By Sean Ellis
In terms of total acres, wheat is the No. 1 crop in the Pacific Northwest states of Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
In those three PNW states combined, there were 4.25 million planted wheat acres in 2024, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
“Wheat is a big crop in the Pacific Northwest,” says Britany Hurst Marchant, executive director of the Idaho Wheat Commission, which represents the state’s roughly 2,600 wheat farmers.
The No. 2 crop in those three states in 2024 in terms of total acres was hay with 2.8 million planted acres, followed by corn (655,000 acres), barley (641,000 acres) and potatoes (518,000) acres.
Idaho farmers typically grow about 1.2 million acres of wheat each year and it’s grown in 42 of the state’s 44 counties. Idaho wheat yields per acre are consistently among the highest in the nation.
“The state of Idaho knows how to grow wheat,” says North Idaho wheat farmer Bill Flory. “There are counties (in the state) where it is THE main crop.”
Idaho typically ranks between No. 5 and 7 in the nation in total wheat production, “but when it comes to consistent quality and overall yields across the state, we’re at the top of the heap,” he says.
Idaho is one of the few states that grows five of the six classes of wheat and Idaho is known by grain customers for its consistent supply of high-quality wheat, according to Marchant.
“We grow very consistent, very high-quality wheat, especially our soft white wheat,” she said. “But, really, all five classes of the wheat that we grow are very consistent in quantity and quality.”
The state’s wheat farmers typically produce about 100 million bushels per year.
“We usually have super consistent quality and quantity; our customers love PNW wheat,” says Rockland farmer Cory Kress. “It’s always top-notch and we’re pretty consistently around that 100-million-bushel mark.”
Idaho has very predictable weather patterns compared to other areas of the country and the cool nights and warm days are ideal for the state’s wheat crop, says IWC chairman Wayne Hurst, who formerly served as president of the National Association of Wheat Growers.
Add in a stable supply of water and “that’s what makes Idaho a great wheat-growing state,” he says. “It allows the state’s farmers to produce a steady, consistent, stable wheat crop year after year.”
While total U.S. wheat production has declined substantially over the past 40 years, Idaho production has remained fairly stable. That has a lot to do with wheat’s importance in Idaho as a rotation crop.
It is often planted after some of Idaho’s cash crops, such as potatoes and sugar beets, to help improve soil health.
“Whatever you grow, wheat is a great rotation crop,” Kress says.
He said wheat improves organic matter in a field and helps improve soil health and structure.
“It is a great agronomic fix,” Kress says. “Whether you grow sugar beets, potatoes or something else, there is wheat somewhere in your rotation.”
Hurst grows a variety of crops on his farm, including potatoes, beans and sugar beets.
“Wheat is really the king of soil health on my farm,” he says. “Wheat is the crop I always go back to to maintain a healthy soil.”
Wheat puts high levels of straw and organic matter into the soil, says North Idaho farmer Bill Flory.
“Wheat is extremely important for soil health,” he says.
Wheat is sort of a “quiet” crop that doesn’t get a lot of notoriety, Hurst says. “But wheat is a very important foundation for a healthy agriculture.”
According to the wheat commission, half of Idaho’s wheat crop goes to domestic mills and the other half is exported, mainly through the Port of Portland, to customers in Asia and Latin America.
The Port of Lewiston in Idaho and Columbia-Snake River system, which allows Idaho wheat to be shipped to Portland by barge, is very important to ensure quick and timely delivery, particularly to customers in Asia, Marchant says.
“It gets there when we say it’s going to get there. It’s always on time,” she says.
Because wheat plays such a major role in Idaho and the PNW, the region has a large amount of infrastructure in support of that industry.
That includes:
- 16 wheat breeding programs.
- 4 wheat geneticists.
- 50-plus support staff, not including pathologists, entomologists or agronomists.
- Six wheat quality labs.
- Well over 100 wheat trial sites and more than 100,000 test plots.
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