"HELENA, Mont. -- 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 on Monday.

Farmers in the Northwest are nervous that the uncharacteristically low quality of their product could slash the crop's already declining prices."

Alison Noon reports for the Associated Press July 20, 2015. [2]