Wheat farmers face challenges

RITZVILLE — It’s not going to surprise many people that the wheat market is in no way a method to get rich quick.

“It’s down,” Washington State University regional extension specialist Aaron Esser said about the wheat farmer’s market price. “It’s way down. I can go back over 10 years and find when the price of wheat was significantly higher than what it is currently, but I think it’s well below the cost of production for most producers, especially if you start looking at their true cost of production.

“I’m not sure what it looks like moving forward. I think in the near future, it’s still awful...