preventing decay of farmland/wheat

Hey there,
is there a way to prevent the decay of farmland/soil + wheat, so that wheat stays fully grown for as long as I want (unless someone walks on it ofc). I like how wheat looks and it's bloody annoying to replant it everytime it gets destroyed. Btw, is it normal that wheat decays eventually, even though nobody walks on it + sufficient lightning is provided + it's in a 4-block range of water?



EDIT by Moderator: merged posts, please use the edit button instead of double posting.