Spring wheat is making a bit of a comeback in Minnesota.

Farmers in the state planted and harvested just over 1.6 million acres of hard red wheat in 2018, a 40 percent increase over 2017 and the largest spring wheat crop since 2008.

Most wheat in Minnesota is north of a line between Fargo and Park Rapids, but farmers farther south are getting more interested in wheat, said Jochum Wiersma, a University of Minnesota extension professor in Crookston. He expects the acreage of hard red wheat to grow again in 2019.

“Probably not 40 percent, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” Wiersma said. “Farmers have been calling me with questions about wheat production that haven’t had wheat for a couple of years or a decade or more.”