Corn and soybeans dominate Iowa crop production. But Dave Walton is giving another crop common in other states a shot on his Wilton, Iowa, farm.
“The wheat market has given us a really nice opportunity,” said Walton, who serves as vice president of the American Soybean Association.
He has sold winter wheat to a CHS market near the Mississippi River, as well as to an ADM wheat mill in northern Illinois.
“As the pet food market has expanded, there’s been quite an increase in wheat acres in eastern Iowa and western Illinois,” Walton said. “It makes a nice rotational crop. And as we have found benefits beyond that market, when we rotated those acres into corn the next year, we saw a nice bump in corn yields.”
Wheat’s impact on corn yields dates back several years. Michigan State University research from the 1990s found that including wheat in a rotation with corn would boost corn yields at least 10%.
More recently, University of Kentucky researchers reported in 2025 that corn yields across 13 seasons in three rotations tallied these averages:
- corn after-corn — 136 bushels per acre
- corn after full-season soybeans — 148 bpa
- corn after wheat and double-cropped soybeans — 158 bpa
Expanding the rotation to include winter wheat also decreased nitrogen needs to optimize corn yields. Corn-after-corn yields were maximized at the highest N rate of 200 pounds per acre. However, corn yields in the other two rotations were optimized at only 160 pounds of N per acre.
Stepping stone
Walton said winter wheat is the next step beyond cover crops for his farm. Cover crops provide myriad benefits, such as boosting water infiltration and erosion control. But they don’t directly contribute to Walton’s bottom line, as he terminates them around the time that he plants corn or soybeans.
This year, he’s also planning to graze a share of winter wheat acres through winter and early spring.
“It’s common practice in the Great Plains, but it’s not really done in Iowa or the Upper Midwest,” Walton said. “So, we’re going to graze 20 acres and see how it works.”
He’s also dabbled in double-cropping soybeans on stubble after winter wheat harvest. This doesn’t always go according to plan.
“In 2024, we intended to double-crop soybeans behind winter wheat, but we ran into a rainy period that pushed wheat harvest back,” Walton said. “Then we received some rain right after harvest. So, we just left it fallow and planted a cover crop in the fall, and came back with the normal rotation of corn.”
He’s now adjusted this plan by planting earlier-maturing winter wheat varieties harvested at the end of June so he can pivot to soybeans by July 4.
Genetics and disease management
Genetics for winter wheat planted in Iowa aren’t as advanced as they are for corn hybrids and soybean varieties. However, that’s changing.
“Winter wheat production has been moving further north, and wheat breeders have responded with early-maturing varieties,” Walton said.
He buys his winter wheat varieties from AgriMaxx, a Mascoutah, Ill., company.
Compared with the Great Plains, small grain diseases can be prevalent in more-humid states such as Iowa.
“We didn’t have any way to control diseases in small grains 30 to 40 years ago, but now we have some good fungicides,” Walton noted. “We go with a one-pass fungicide, learning from what we have done with corn and soybeans.”
Other benefits
Wheat also is akin to a cover crop when it comes to smothering weeds.
“It helps especially with small-seeded weeds like waterhemp,” Walton said. “We have less waterhemp in corn and bean fields where we’ve planted wheat. It also suppresses giant ragweed, but not to the degree of waterhemp.”
Wheat can even work better than a cover crop for weed control, as waterhemp can still germinate after cover crop termination.
“Wheat’s there longer and provides more shade for the rest of the season,” Walton said.
Winter wheat also provides perks that improve water quality. Its dense early growth covers ground quickly, which helps prevent soil and nutrients from washing away.
“It would help with water quality if we could go to a three-crop rotation of wheat, corn and soybeans,” Walton added.