Wheat’S World Impact Far Afield: Special Report

The Clinton Miller family grows thousands of bushels of wheat every year on their 16,000-acre farm, but they buy their bread from the grocery store.

Nearly all wheat from the Palouse is sold overseas to places such as Pakistan, Japan and Egypt.

Northwest farmers have been feeding the world since shortly after they first broke ground here. The big domestic markets to the east were too far away, so it was easier to send wheat west and load it onto a boat.

In 1867, several barrels of wehat were shipped to Liverpool, England. Japan bacame a steady customer right after World War II. The growing international wheat market puts Miller and other farmers at the mercy of world events.

For more about his world of wheat, turn to our special section “Far Afield,” a report from Pakistan, Japan and Egypt. Also, see more wheat stories in Sunday Business, Section D.