The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

In the 23 trading sessions following Dec. 18, 2014, the Chicago March wheat futures contract dropped $1.22 per bushel. The average bid for Pacific Northwest white wheat in Portland also declined by about 90 cents (approximately 73% of the Chicago move).

The primary drivers for this move down were simple; a large crop of wheat in the northern hemisphere last fall, and a very powerful upward move in the cost of U.S. Dollars to foreign buyers. A jump from near 89 to more than 95 in the Dollar Index represents as much as a 6.7% increase in the cost of wheat to a foreign buyer. Loosely speaking...