Turkey Red

Winter hardy and drought resistant. Turkey is the name most commonly used for the Crimean group of hard winter wheats grown in the U.S. "This particular variety can be traced to Crimea between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov in the early 19th century and earlier to Turkey to the south of the Black Sea. Mennonite immigrants brought it to the United States in the early 1870s, introducing it to the areas surrounding Marian, Reno and Harvey Counties in Kansas. It became the dominant hard red winter wheat in Kansas and much of the Great Plains bread basket and was the major hard winter variety in the 1920s. Significant acreage was planted in Kansas until the mid-1940s Not only does this variety have a great root structure and is great for the soil, in a recent drought it outperformed other modern varieties. Turkey Hard Red Winter WheatThe wheat has excellent flavor, good protein quantity and quality, and has proven longevity and resilience. To grow for grain, plant in fall for harvest next summer. Heads have awns. Seed at 3 lbs. /sq. ft. or 90lbs./acre. 15,000 seeds /lb " originally from Turkey and was grown extensively in the Ukraine prior to 1850. When the Mennonite people had to flee Russia due to persecution, they brought this wheat with them to the U.S., sometimes sewing the seed in the hems of their children’s garments. Turkey Red became the foundation of most American wheats and is a major reason that Kansas became know as the “bread basket of America.”