Eric Aasmundstad and Terry Ulrich wrapped up their 22nd year of farming in 2003. And they did it with less wheat.

For the first time, Aasmundstad did not seed a wheat crop on his Devils Lake farm, after years of wet weather that brought widespread disease.

"In this part of the state, the years of wheat being the end-all are over," he said.

Still, those who did grow wheat this year found ideal conditions. And it may lure others back.

"People had just kind of given up on (wheat)," Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson said. "This year, I think, changed a lot of attitudes."

Ulrich, who farms near Ashley in southeastern North Dakota, slashed his wheat acreage from about one-third of his fields to about one-eighth.

"Soybeans were more profitable, and we had not had a crop failure in soybeans," he said.

Soybean production set another record in North Dakota in 2003, at nearly 87 million bushels. But the state's wheat crop took a dramatic jump to levels not seen since the mid-1990s, buoyed by timely spring rain and less summer disease.

The Agriculture Department pegged production of all types of wheat at 317 million bushels, a 46 percent increase from the previous year.

The large crop could boost the state's economy by as much as $1.5 billion, according to the North Dakota Wheat Commission. The commission's own budget also could benefit.

Johnson said that while soybeans and corn are becoming more popular because of interest in ethanol and biodiesel production, wheat is still the mainstay of North Dakota agriculture.

A decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission to assess tariffs against Canadian hard red spring wheat will only help the crop's future, he said.

Mad cow disease made headlines as the year drew to a close. A case in Washington state threw the nation's cattle industry into a tailspin, months after prices hit record highs. Ranchers hoped the earlier highs would help them weather the lows at the end of the year.

The year in North Dakota agriculture also was marked by an increasing interest in - and leeriness of - large hog operations in the northeastern part of the state, and efforts to boost the state's floundering dairy industry. Farmers and ranchers fought both drought and excess moisture.

Attitudes toward value-added ventures - long touted as the answer to farmers' economic woes - seemed to shift. With the demise of such farmer-backed projects as Spring Wheat Bakers and the struggles of other ventures such as the North Dakota Farmers Union-backed Agraria restaurant, "there's very widespread pessimism or skepticism toward new value-added ventures," Johnson said.

The Pembina County Job Development Authority is one group taking a go-slow approach. The group has put off a feasibility study on a proposed $3 million soybean crushing plant in the region while it monitors the progress of a similar project across the Canadian border in Manitoba.

"We thought we had to get better information as to how to approach it," said Julius Wangler, who oversees the authority in his job as director of the Grafton-based Red River Regional Council.

Interest in ethanol, along with a record 130 million acre corn crop, has fueled efforts to start ethanol plants in the Valley City, Williston and Richardton areas. North Dakota already has two plants, in Walhalla and Grafton.

Johnson and Ulrich said there is a danger that the state could overbuild, if consumption or government support wanes.

"Ethanol and biodiesel are largely driven by what the environmental standards are, and are going to be in the future," Johnson said.

State lawmakers voted to provide up to $1.28 million in state subsidies over the next two years to encourage the construction of new ethanol plants. They will be paid when the ethanol market slips, and will get smaller or cease when prices improve.

Johnson said that might put North Dakota in a better position than other states to have a healthy ethanol industry.

In December, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman granted a federal agriculture disaster declaration for 47 North Dakota counties - largely because of drought - making farmers and ranchers eligible for low-interest loans and other financial help.

One positive result of the drier weather was less disease in small grains, helping boost the wheat crop.

Both Aasmundstad and Ulrich plan to seed more wheat in the coming year, though for different reasons. Aasmundstad needs a crop to rotate with his corn, beans and canola. Ulrich was disheartened by dry conditions that cut into his soybean yields.

Aasmundstad said wheat could shift to a rotational crop in some areas unless new varieties or chemicals help it grow better.

"Wheat will always have a place in North Dakota," Aasmundstad said. "But if wheat is going to remain a viable crop in some parts of North Dakota, some serious enhancements in technology have to be made."

The weather extremes in 2003 led to variability in farming success not only from region to region, but in some cases from farm to farm.

"There's never a year where you'd say, 'That was normal,'" Johnson said. "That's always been one of the joys of agriculture, in my mind."