Harvest of soft white wheat is under way in northeastern Oregon and a grain merchandiser in Pendleton says yields are down 10 to 15 percent because of hot, dry weather, says Capital Press. “The overall quality of the crop is going to be fine, there’s just not going to be a lot of it,” Dan Steiner, senior grain merchandiser at Pendleton Grain Growers, told the newspaper. At a recent meeting of the Oregon Wheat Growers League, farmers predicted a crop that would be 85 percent of last year’s harvest.
Soft white wheat, with a low to medium protein content and soft endosperm, produces flour for baking cakes, crackers, cookies, pastries, quick breads, muffins and snack foods, says a fact sheet. The food grain is exported to Asian markets including Japan.