GRAND FORKS (AP) - Some North Dakota farmers are reporting success with winter wheat that matured before the summer heat wave.

Winter wheat is planted in the fall and is ready to be harvested in midsummer, weeks before spring wheat. Recent hot, dry weather has hurt the spring wheat crop.

Some farmers in Ramsey County reported yields as high as 70 bushels an acre for winter wheat, but most reports are closer to 40 bushels. Spring wheat yields in the region have dropped to around 29 bushels per acre.

Grand Forks County extension agent Willie Huot said a switch to winter wheat is something farmers will want to consider in the fall.

"As long as we get some fall rains, we suspect there'll be a pretty sharp increase in acreage," Huot said.

The crop is not as common as spring wheat in North Dakota because winters in the state usually are too cold, Huot said. Although an increase in winter wheat acreage is expected for next year, "we expect it to not do very well in our climate in the long-run," he said.

Wheat prices have climbed to a 10-year high of more than $4 per bushel in recent weeks, mainly because of drought in the Plains states.

North Dakota reported only 180,000 acres of winter wheat this year, a sharp decline from last year's 310,000 acres. The state reported 245,000 acres two years ago.

This year's drop was a result of the same factor that could lead to more winter wheat next year: the price, Huot said.

"We had a big increase in soybeans this year because the price for that was high, and the price for wheat was low," he said.