Kansas State Historical Society Storm clouds build over the Busse family fields southeast of Colby, 1998.
Nature is a constant source of tension for farmers.
Some of Kansas's most dangerous weather strikes in June and July when harvest is in full swing. Every farmer has stories about being hauled out or burned up. We only had like 40 acres left. We could've got it cut that afternoon. . . . So we went to Colby and went swimming all afternoon, and we was coming back home and man, there was a big old black cloud out in the west, and it just came in and mowed that wheat.