Surviving harvesters -- many running bigger equipment that can cut more acres faster -- are filling the void as Kansas prepares to take in its 2005 winter wheat crop.

Around the country, about 500 custom harvesters make their living cutting wheat for farmers reluctant to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on machinery they would use only a week or two each ...

The U.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc. recently hosted its 41st annual convention January 25 to 27, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

About 600 harvesters and the vendors that sell to them are in Wichita as part of the U.S. Custom Harvesters annual convention. It’s the off-season for cutting crews.

As many as half of the workers who harvest U.S. wheat and other grain crops are seasonal foreign workers, said Ryan Haffner, a Kansas harvester and board member for U.S. Custom Harvesters.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Drought and a freeze have hurt the wheat crop in Oklahoma and Texas, cutting down on work for custom harvesters from Kansas who make a living off following the trail of ...