Fluctuations in commodity prices mean that wheat can be a darling or a demon. When prices are high, wheat can command more acres pushing up the prices for canning tomatoes. When prices are low, growers are inclined to look at wheat's value in terms of metrics other than just yield, such as its role in the mitigation of disease pressure in tomatoes or the benefits associated with maintaining a cover crop in the winter. When wheat prices drop low enough, farmers begin looking for other options. Recently, the combination of wheat prices at a 15-year low and the rise of craft brewing culture in the American west has generated inquiries into the possibility of growing malting barley.

In the last decade alone,...