I'm not sure why, but the DNR plants winter wheat  rye in some of fields in the Allegan Forest, the game area where I do much of my outdoor photography. The game area was cobbled together from a lot of failed farms in the 1930's - farms that failed due to the very sandy soil that offers little support for crops. Here's a closeup of a the head of wheat rye stalk with a little spider on it. The wheat rye has grown fairly well this year, but is exceedingly thin in the sandy soil. The tan background is the rest of the field.

(Correction: I thought it was winter wheat, but after chatting with a farmer with a field full of this stuff I learned that it was rye.)