Wheat
Sow in November, harvest around April
Sowing time is now.
Grown on 1.7 lakh acres here. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹24,000–₹35,000
per acre a season, before costs
After typical costs: ₹5,000–₹17,000 an acre a season
- Needs care: Risky: 3 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 3 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 320 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 50 mm it can use in a normal year (20 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 150 mm from the monsoon at sowing.
Temperature
Grows best at 15–25 °C on average, and survives 5–27 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Nov 27 °C / 12 °C
- Dec 21 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 18 °C / 7 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 23 °C / 10 °C
- Mar 28 °C / 15 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Wheat: 8 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: nitrogen and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
- Most fields here are short of potassium.
- Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
Likes pH 6.0–8.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 18 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).
On rain alone it gets about 64% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 64% of this yield.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (April–May 2026): about ₹2,585 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹2,724 a quintal, the middle of 497 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹12,000 a season after typical costs.
Minimum support price: ₹2,610 a quintal (2027-28), if you sell to government procurement.
- ₹2,420 2024
- ₹2,550 2025
Prices are usually best in October.
Typical costs are about ₹19,000 an acre (seed, fertiliser, labour and hired machines, from the government's cost survey). They are spent whatever the harvest.
How to make it work
The better districts with similar soil, rain and warmth get 19 quintals an acre. That's a realistic target.
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Short of potassium Your soil is likely short of potassium.
Add about a quarter more potash (MOP) than the usual dose.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.
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Short of organic carbon Your soil is likely short of organic carbon.
Add 4 tonnes of compost or farmyard manure per acre before sowing, and plough crop leftovers back in instead of burning them.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.