BUCKLIN , Kansas ( CNN ) -- Rob Sellard 's young wheat field is a stark reminder that no matter how bad the economy , farmers are always at nature 's mercy . Rob Sellard and his wife , Sylvia , farm 14,000 acres , or about 22 square miles , in Kansas . `` The fact is we do n't have any moisture right now , and when we hit some warm days this wheat will deteriorate very rapidly , '' Sellard told CNN during a visit in March , pointing to places where the green wheat was starting to die from lack of rain . `` Without moisture this wheat is going to continue to die , '' he said . Add in the high costs of planting last fall -- the spike in oil prices drove up the price of petroleum-based fertilizers , fuel and chemicals -- and the chances of making a profit this year look bleak . `` Four or five years ago , we were buying $ 350 to $ 400 a ton fertilizer . This wheat crop here , when we fertilized last August or September , fertilizer was $ 1,100 , '' Sellard says . `` Even if we had a decent crop , even if we cut it decently , this wheat crop will be in the red . '' Watch as Sellard examines the dry soil » . For generations , the Sellards have farmed near Bucklin , Kansas . Rob and his wife , Sylvia , now farm a whopping 14,000 acres -- nearly 22 square miles . Recent years have been good to the Sellards and other farmers . 2008 saw record wheat prices , and the Sellards also raise Black Angus cattle -- the ones that make those tasty steaks that corporate execs once spent so lavishly on . But cattle production , like the economy , is also suffering . Learn more about what affects farm costs » . `` With the fears on Wall Street , people have stopped eating out so much , '' he says . `` Less beef is sold . Foreign countries , they are struggling too because of everything that has happened , so we do n't have the exports . '' Exports are slowly improving , and farmers such as the Sellards do have the option of hanging on to their prized cattle until prices improve . Likewise , they can sit on their wheat harvest and hope prices go up -- although they 'll have to pay to store the grain . Grain prices are low compared with last season , when record prices helped some farmers make a good profit in Kansas and across the country . According to the Kansas State University agricultural extension office , Kansas wheat sold for an average of $ 10.50 a bushel at its peak in 2008 -- largely a result of changing supply and demand . From 1999 to 2006 , the average price was $ 3.16 a bushel . As of this week , wheat was selling for $ 5.39 a bushel at a local grain elevator in Bucklin , in southwestern Kansas . Sellard says that despite last year 's high prices , not everyone made lots of money . `` You can read all you want , the sensationalism of high prices a year ago , '' he says . `` I do n't know of very many people around here who got $ 10 or $ 11 wheat . In most people 's case , when the grain started going up they sold it at $ 5 , $ 6 . '' By the time prices hit $ 11 , few farmers had any wheat left to sell . Still , Kelly Estes -- president of BTI Inc. Bucklin Tractor & Implement , the local John Deere dealership -- has seen farmers with money to spend . `` I think that farmers for the most part up our way , there is no question that net income has increased the last two years significantly to what it was , due to the commodity prices going up to what they did , '' he says . Estes has sold out of 2009 model farm equipment , much of which sells for more than a quarter-million dollars . Business has been so good that Estes is looking to hire more employees -- and he says the agricultural sector might be one answer to unemployment . `` There is a real opportunity for even city kids that want to come out and work in rural North America , '' he says . `` They are laying people off in the cites that might have opportunities here . '' Estes , however , says he does worry about the impact of the economic downturn on rural America as the effects of the recession start to hit home . `` You know it always starts on the East Coast and West Coast and it kind of comes in . By the time it gets here we are hoping that the tidal wave is [ reduced to ] a ripple effect . '' He already has seen sales of used tractors slow . `` For us '09 looks good , '08 was fantastic ; '10 is a more cautious year for us . There is no question . Just due to what Mother Nature is doing , due to what the economy is doing . '' Kraig Lindsay says things also have slowed at the Offerle Cooperative Grain Elevator in Bucklin , which he manages . `` There is less consumption going on , so [ the grain is ] not going to be moving out of here , '' he says . Some farmers are waiting , holding onto their grain , hoping for prices to go back up . So how will farmers and those who rely on them survive ? `` We are concerned , '' Sellard says . `` But we hope in the good years we 've saved up enough equity that we can go the next year . ... [ that ] we have n't blown it all in one year . ''
Rob Sellard and his wife , Sylvia , farm 14,000 acres in southwestern Kansas . They have been farming for over 50 years. But a lack of rain , falling prices and high planting costs could spell trouble this year .