Wolters' Wheat Legacy Continues from Farm to Classroom
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Wolters’ wheat legacy continues from farm to classroom Editor’s Note: This week ily, two served in the war and usually harvest by late concludes our Wheat Har- overseas and one stayed May. The greenhouse kept vest series, sponsored by home to farm. it a little ahead of normal Hutchinson-Mayrath, Kan- They had five children. schedule.” sas Wheat, Bennington The oldest Doug started at Looking like grass, stu- State Bank, FCS Manufac- K-State in 1965 when John dents noted each stage turing, People’s State Bank, started kindergarten. with studies on history and Blue Valley Trailer Sales “Doug was the first math connections. and Rockin’ S Ranch Sup- connection of our family “Each student plants ply. to K-State, which runs so 63 seeds because K-State By Lucas Shivers deep,” John said. “He re- started in 1863,” John said. John Wolters takes a turned to the family farm “Manhattan and K-State passion for wheat from in 1970.” are at ground zero for his family farm in north- Doug and Pattie, his wheat.” ern Rawlins County near wife, transitioned the Students always fo- Atwood to his elementary farm to Josh and Matt, who cused on data collection. classroom in Manhattan. also operate SureFire Ag, Each had their own row “I wanted to get a whole a precision ag operation of wheat. From germina- picture of food in front of specializing in solutions tion rates to growth habits, my students that reflects for the control and appli- there was also so much my upbringing,” said John, cation of liquid and dry vocabulary to share. a sixth-grade teacher. “The fertilizer, seed and chem- “In the winter months character and life lessons ical. John and Russ in 1990, after the “A”s had been retired for some time. we saw a D-word in action; of teaching about wheat John’s next brother, not dead but dormant with Wolters started no-till specifically, along with the Rick, who married Cathy, needs of moisture and farming practices that academic facts, were al- is a contractor in Hough- temperatures to wake the transitioned into newer ways my primary focus.” ton. They raised four chil- wheat up,” John said. operational routines. John’s oldest brother, dren. Student Focused “When I was growing Doug, recently passed the Bev, the one and only The kids experienced up, we summer-fallowed family farm on to his two sister, lives in southern the growth of the wheat with rotations,” John said. sons, Josh and Matt, John’s Minnesota with her hus- through the late spring “The predominant thing nephews. band Ed. She has lived getting taller and noted was tilling, but in the early “As of 2019, it is a there since taking her first the details of the develop- 2000s, it was a big change fifth-generation farm,” teaching job in the area ing heads. to conserve our most pre- John said. “It’s been a in 1975. They raised two “They could always ex- cious commodity: mois- family situation the whole children. amine it closely back in ture.” time.” Mark taught junior and class,” John said. “They Now, the Wolters grow Deep Roots high school math and be- started to peel open the more dryland corn. John’s great grandpar- came superintendent in green plant to discover a “Economics always ents Heinrich and Doro- Rawlins County schools. perfectly formed head of drives commodity selec- thee Wolters came to the He joined the family farm wheat waiting to emerge. tion,” John said. “When United States in 1882. operation for a while in They were just amazed. A restored REO Speedwagon Doug bought a few wheat took a real hit in They initially went as far the late 1980s and ‘90s. He It’s a miniature size with years ago. the markets, we just saw as Iowa, then arrived in and his wife Brenda have all of the parts. In about less acres. As long as it Rawlins County in 1893. four children. two weeks, the heads ap- rains, we can grow some “My grandfather Hein- Finally, John met his peared. It was usually the nice crops. Rain can make rich (mostly called Henry) wife Jo at K-State, both in quietest time because stu- any farmer a good one!” was two years old when the College of Education. dents were taken by such STEM Lessons the family first came to the They married in 1982. awe after seeing the heads In John’s sixth grade U.S.,” John said. “Hein- Russ, their oldest child, from the grass.” classroom at Amanda rich was a common family is in pediatric residency Seeing all of the stages Arnold Elementary and name, and we now have in Houston. He is married of the development, one during special summer another Henry who is my to Amber and they are the student stood out while he camps at K-State, wheat great-nephew carrying on parents of four-year-old was counting wheat heads. stands out as a key lesson the name. Let me tell you, Elizabeth and two-year-old “He said to me, ‘This topic. he’s a farmer-to-be. He just Benjamin. doesn’t make sense; I “With kids knowing loves it. He walks like a John and Jo’s daughter planted 63 but I’m up to very little about how food farmer with boots and a Megan is a critical care over 100 heads. How can gets in front of them and cap.” ICU nurse at KU Medical that be?’ It brought up til- Kansas being the wheat John’s grandparents, Center. lering to send out more state, I did a whole unit Henry and Rosa, built the Early Memories than one head in the right on wheat,” John said. family home that is still Wheat harvest has al- conditions. It was amaz- “K-State and my school standing. It’s a seven-bed- ways been an exception- ing to him. He wasn’t mis- district put on a summer room, two-story house. ally large family affair for The whole Wolters family circa 1968. Courtesy photos counting. It was really STEM program. I devel- “My nephew and his the Wolters. “It was my dad’s connec- but I did everything. I defi- happening.” oped a course called ‘From family are still living in “In the earliest time, I tion to K-State Research nitely found myself behind When it got far enough Soil to Scrumptious.’” the home after moving it remember riding on the and Extension.” the wheel of the combine along, students especially The highlight of the an eighth of a mile on a open-air combine or the One year, John remem- for years and years.” loved to walk through the summer class was using new foundation and base- truck,” John said. “We had bers a specific disaster. John’s nephew, Josh, ripe wheat at the end of the kitchens in Justin Hall ment,” John said. a 1947 REO, like the band “In 1976, we had one of was an ag engineer and the year. to make their own piz- John’s dad, Clarence, who took their name from the best crops ever, but on worked at Case IH out “It connected full circle zas from scratch like the was born on the family the Speedwagon. Tipped July 3, the night before we of college so the family to memories I had as a agronomy, gardens and farm in January 1919 right off with wheat at harvest, were going to start cutting, switched to having just kid,” John said. “The kin- dairy operations. after the Spanish Flu pan- it would haul just over 200 hail wiped out 80% of our one Case combine. esthetic feel of that dry, During the school year, demic. He was the last of bushels. We rode in the crop,” John remembers “Doug had a good con- ready-to-cut wheat. I love John’s lessons started in a three boys in the family. front and the back of that sadly. sultant to talk with: his getting to share that.” greenhouse that used to be “I was also the last of truck all the time!” Helping Out Back Home son,” John said. “Doug was Highlighting the many at his school. John started five children,” John said. John remembers the John and Jo settled in the true mechanic of the life lessons, John shared using the tools and raised “Growing up, we had a harvest feasts in the field Manhattan to raise their family as we did all of our his work ethic and farm- beds to grow wheat with small dairy. The majority to keep everyone fueled family, both teaching in own mechanic work.” ing lifestyle with countless his students. of our land back then was up. elementary schools. The The summers in At- classes of students. “Kids love to see things wheat with around 400-600 “The food being teacher schedules of open wood allowed the cousins “That was my ultimate grow,” John shared. “It’s acres each year. We also brought out for the noon summers allowed for years to become close knit. goal,” John said. “For ex- magic. The non-immediate had other crops like milo meal was the full-course of harvest help back on the “My kids got a taste of ample, I wanted to show gratification of not plant- for the dairy.” meal that we would have farm. it each summer,” John re- a return on hard work. A ing it one day and having Family Profile eaten around the dining “Even living in Manhat- members.