The average new 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is currently sitting at 7.4%, the highest since President Bill Clinton was in office. As a consequence of the US now being the world’s economic “strongman” and our interest rates trending “higher for longer,” the dollar has gotten stronger than anyone had previously expected (Exhibit 1). The global wheat market illustrates this situation clearly (Exhibit 2). Starting on July 24, Chicago wheat futures fell for nine straight weeks while ICE dollar index futures rose for nine straight weeks. Combined with slower global economic growth, it’s a double whammy – our export customers can’t afford to buy US products.