ABSTRACT
The northern US Great Plains—where the majority of the country's spring and durum wheat is grown—and adjacent parts of Canada were seriously affected by the 1987-89 droughts. North Dakota dryland fanners were especially hard hit. The 1987-89 North Dakota droughts was, climatologically, the second worst in the state's history and perhaps the worst in terms of total agricultural losses. Hard red spring wheat, the dominant crop, is valued for its milling qualities, and the durum wheats, grown almost exclusively in North Dakota, provide most of the country's pasta production. In North Dakota, the effect of the Conservation Reserve Program is visible as a slight decrease in wheat acreage from 1986 to 1988 as the program began to attract farmers. Despite its severity and negative effects during two consecutive crop years, the 1987-1989 droughts in North Dakota had little deleterious effect on overall farm financial health.
