Several properties distinguish wheat from the other major agronomic crops grown in Michigan.
As a fall sown, cool season grass, wheat presents a spectrum of ecological properties that can be exploited to manage diseases, insects, and weeds in spring-sown crops. Wheat provides resistance to soil erosion during the winter months, and its early fall and mid- summer main work periods fall in between the peak times for most other crops. Winter wheat also acts to retard water pollution from nitrates and pesticides. Recent research identifies winter wheat as a valuable rotation tool that adds as much as eighteen percent to subsequent corn yields when compared to corn monoculture. In terms of economic impact, wheat differs from corn and soybeans in that the majority of the value it adds to Michigan's economy occurs after the grain leaves the farm.