Wheat

The price of wheat has been fluctuating wildly in the last few weeks because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The volatility in the market, the high cost of fertilizer and gas prices, and the ongoing drought are adding to uncertainty for northwest growers.

Most of the wheat from the Northwest travels the world, where it's eaten in countries like Japan, China, the Philippines and Indonesia. But it’s also being enjoyed much closer to the fields where it is grown.

A trip down the Snake and Columbia Rivers aboard one of the tugs that push barges of grain, wood chips, garbage and other payloads between Lewiston and Vancouver year-round.

Researchers at Washington State University have developed a new grain species, which they call Salish Blue. Their goal was to make something that’s like wheat but grows back year after year.