Drought Dings Quality of Winter Wheat in Northwest

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Intense drought conditions have shrunk the kernels and disrupted the proteins of winter wheat crops in Montana, Washington, Oregon and Idaho, the region that produces a fifth of the U.S. harvest.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service classified a large percentage of the region's winter wheat as below-average quality this month. Farmers in the Northwest are nervous that the uncharacteristically low quality of their product could slash the crop's already declining prices.

Scattered rains helped keep winter wheat from the same fate in six Midwestern states that cultivate half of the nation's winter wheat. The true value of the crop will be determined in the coming weeks as growers finish the harvest and receive estimates from grain elevators.