Editor's note: You can listen to my conversation with Strahinja Stepanovic by clicking on the Soundcloud file embedded in this article.

In western Nebraska, most growers are at least somewhat familiar with wheat production. However, in a semiarid environment with a dryland rotation, there usually isn't enough moisture after a corn crop to plant winter wheat.

Instead, dryland producers typically include a fallow period in the rotation, giving time to store much-needed soil moisture before rotating to winter wheat the next fall. This system isn't without its drawbacks, however. This leaves a bigger window with nothing growing in the field, meaning nothing is being grown for profit while herbicide costs are still adding up.

That's why some growers in southwest Nebraska are considering adding spring wheat to the rotation — not entirely dissimilar from when growers in western Nebraska first began growing yellow field peas to break up the fallow period.

As a new crop in Nebraska, there still are a number of questions to be answered: What marketing opportunities are available? What kind of yield can growers expect? Learn about these considerations and others in the latest Down In The Weeds.