Severe drought devastates Washington state's wheat crop

A drought in eastern Washington state that is the worst since 1977 has devastated what is normally the fourth largest U.S. wheat crop

ROCKFORD, Wash. -- The wheat harvest on Marci Green's farm doesn't usually begin until late August, but a severe drought stunted this year's crop and her crews finished harvesting last week because she didn't want what had grown so far to shrivel and die in the heat. 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.