© Ted S. Warren/AP
A combine transfers wheat into a grain truck, Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021, near Pullman, Wash.
A combine transfers wheat into a grain truck, Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021, near Pullman, Wash.
It's the same story across the wheat country of eastern Washington state, a vast expanse of seemingly endless stretches of flatlands with rolling hills along its edges that produces the nation's fourth largest wheat crop. It's been devastated by a drought the National Weather Service has classified as "exceptional" and the worst since 1977.
"This is definitely the worst crop year we have had since we started farming 35 years ago," said Green, whose family is the sixth generation on the same farming land just south of the city of Spokane.
She estimated her farm's wheat crop this year at half of normal, and of poor quality.
Green grows soft white winter wheat, a variety that is prized in Asian countries because it is excellent for making pastries, cakes, cookies and noodles.
