Recent news and highlights from around the wheat industry.

Quote of the Week: “The annual U.S. Wheat Associates Crop Quality Report is one of the most useful tools available to buyers of U.S. wheat.” – Vince Peterson, USW President

Best Wishes to Alvaro de la Fuente. Longtime USW Regional Vice President for South America Alvaro de la Fuente has just started what we hope will be a long and enjoyable retirement. We will share some tributes and memories of Alvaro’s successful tenure with USW in Wheat Letter soon. For now though, thank you, Alvaro, for your dedication and service — you will be missed!

Congratulations. We are fortunate to have devoted, loyal colleagues at USW. This month Marketing and Program Coordinator Jin Young Lee, from the USW Seoul Office, is celebrating 25 years. Thank you, Jin Young, for your service to our organization, to U.S. wheat farmers and to our customers around the world.

Farmers Frustrated by Winter Wheat Planting Delays. The waiting game that is winter wheat planting 2018 is about to run out of time. In Kansas – traditionally the nation’s largest producer of winter wheat – the USDA’s Risk Management Agency Planting Deadlines for Kansas ranges from October 15 (northwest Kansas) to November 15 (southeast Kansas). Delays in planting caused by rain have stalled planting progress so far, and could prompt farmers to halt wheat planting altogether and wait until corn, grain sorghum, or soybean planting in 2019. Read the full article from Successful Farming here.

Wheat Marketing Center Seats New Directors, Adds New State. The Wheat Marketing Center (WMC) Board of Directors met last week in Portland for its biannual gathering, where it welcomed two new state representatives to its board. Randy Hinebauch, a wheat farmer from Montana, will represent the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee, while Philip Volk, a wheat farmer from North Dakota, will represent the North Dakota Wheat Commission. The WMC all welcomed the Oklahoma Wheat Commission as a new member to its board. Read the full announcement here.

Northern Crops Institute Welcomes Back Brian Sorenson. The Northern Crops Institute (NCI) recently hired Brian Sorenson for program manager. In his new role, Sorenson will use his background in cereal chemistry, grain milling and grain quality to provide organization and leadership in the development of educational programs to promote northern grown crops to global grain buyers and food processors. He previously served as technical director at NCI from 2001-2008 and director from 2008 to 2011. Read the full announcement here.

National Wheat Foundation Scholarship. The National Wheat Foundation’s Jerry Minore Scholarship honors high school and college students pursuing an agricultural career. “The purpose of the Jerry Minore Scholarship is to help students who are passionate about agriculture at school and at home,” said National Wheat Foundation Chairman Wayne Hurst. “Our students are the future. They will go on to educate the next generation about wheat, agriculture and their role in society.” The application deadline is Dec. 1, 2018. Click here to learn more and apply.

Grain Companies Seek More Efficiency. Archer Daniels Midland Company, Bunge Limited, Cargill, and Louis Dreyfus Co. are investigating ways to standardize and digitize global agricultural shipping transactions and are seeking broad-based industry participation to promote global access and adoption. Initially, they are focused on technologies to automate grain and oilseed post-trade execution processes to encourage shorter document-processing and wait times and better end-to-end contracting visibility. Longer term, the companies want to drive greater reliability, efficiency and transparency by replacing other manual, paper-based processes tied to contracts, invoices and payments, with a more modern, digitally based approach. Read more here.

Cereal Science Events Calendar. Cereal Scientist Dr. M. Hikmet Boyacıoğlu maintains a calendar of events related to the cereal science field. If you wish to receive this calendar, you may email Dr. Boyacıoğlu at [email protected].

Subscribe to USW Reports. USW publishes a variety of reports and content that are available to subscribe to, including a bi-weekly newsletter highlighting recent Wheat Letter blog posts, the weekly Price Report and the weekly Harvest Report (available May to October). Subscribe here.

Follow USW Online. Visit our page at https://www.facebook.com/uswheat for the latest updates, photos and discussions of what is going on in the world of wheat. Also, find breaking news on Twitter at www.twitter.com/uswheatassoc and video stories at https://www.youtube.com/uswheatassociates.

Recent news and highlights from around the wheat industry.

Quote of the Week: “Each of us is still at the negotiating table, and we remain committed to working together on a Farm Bill. Our conversations are productive, and progress toward an agreement is taking shape. We are going to get this right.” — From a Sept. 26, 2018 statement, on progress of the 2018 Farm Bill by Agriculture Committee Chairmen Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Rep. K. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, and Ranking Members Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn.

Congratulations. We are fortunate to have devoted, loyal colleagues at USW. This month Vice President of Finance Kevin McGarry is celebrating 35 years. Thank you, Kevin, for your service to our organization, to U.S. wheat farmers and to our customers around the world.

National Wheat Foundation Scholarship. The National Wheat Foundation’s Jerry Minore Scholarship honors a student pursuing a career in agriculture and is available to both high school and college students for the 2019-2020 academic year. “The purpose of the Jerry Minore Scholarship is to help students who are passionate about agriculture at school and at home,” said Wayne Hurst, Chairman of the National Wheat Foundation. “Our students are the future. They will go on to educate the next generation about wheat, agriculture, and their role in society.” The application deadline is Dec. 1, 2018. Click here to learn more and apply.

Sending Our Concern. Mother Nature has taken her toll recently in many of the nations that import U.S. wheat. Our thoughts go out to the people of the Philippines, Hong Kong and southern China affected by Typhoon Mangkhut, and to Indonesia’s grieving families and refugees left in the wake of the recent earthquake and tsunami. We also recognize the many farmers and others in the wheat industry recovering from the flooding after Hurricane Florence in North Carolina.

Congratulations. Erica Olson, Marketing Development and Research Manager at the North Dakota Wheat Commission, recently welcomed with her husband Craig, a baby girl named Paige Evelyn, who joins her three older siblings. USW wishes the Olson family all the best!

Changes to USW Price Report. Due to increased demand for higher protein U.S. soft white (SW) wheat and the low average protein levels of the 2018/19 crop, the USW Price Report will change this week to show min 9.5 protein premiums (currently about a 20 cent per bushel premium to max 10.5 SW prices) and no longer show an unspecified protein level. Unspecified protein SW has priced equal to max 10.5 SW for the last several months. USW will continue to monitor market conditions and make changes to the report as necessary.

Subscribe to USW Reports. USW publishes a variety of reports and content that are available to subscribe to, including a bi-weekly newsletter highlighting recent Wheat Letter blog posts, the weekly Price Report and the weekly Harvest Report (available May to October). Subscribe here.

Follow USW Online. Visit our page at https://www.facebook.com/uswheat for the latest updates, photos and discussions of what is going on in the world of wheat. Also, find breaking news on Twitter at www.twitter.com/uswheatassoc and video stories at https://www.youtube.com/uswheatassociates.

Recent news and highlights from around the wheat industry.

Quote of the Week: “It’s hard to hide the optimism associated with the potential of gene editing for wheat. While bread wheat has existed on the planet for 10,000 years, science has only started to understand its complex genetic structure in the past few decades.” – Aaron Harries, vice president for research and operations, Kansas Wheat Commission. Read full article here.

USAID Awards $21.9 Million for Efforts to Help End Hunger, Poverty. Officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced Aug. 23, 2018, that they have awarded $21.9 million to Kansas State University (KSU) to continue funding three research labs that work to end global hunger and poverty. In 2013, USAID awarded three “innovation labs” to KSU through the Feed the Future initiative, which is the U.S. government’s effort to end global hunger. Read the press release in its entirety here.

Cereal Science Events Calendar. Prof. Dr. M. Hikmet Boyacýoðlu, associate editor of “Cereal Science,” contributing editor to “World Grain” and a cereal science consultant continues to track industry events. Contact him to receive the calendar.

September is Whole Grains Month. Wheat is the most widely grown crop in the world and serves as an excellent source of nutrition. Read more about whole grains from the National Wheat Foundation here. Visit the Wheat Foods Council website for additional whole grains and wheat foods resources.

2018 Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium. Registration is open for the annual Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium Oct. 17 to 19, 2018, in Des Moines, Iowa. This year’s theme is “Rise to the Challenge” and will include a panel of leaders in genome engineering and agriculture that will discuss potential uses for CRISPR-CAS technology in agriculture as well as ethical implications of the technology. Click here for registration and more information.

Subscribe to USW Reports. USW publishes a variety of reports and content that are available to subscribe to, including a bi-weekly newsletter highlighting recent Wheat Letter blog posts, the weekly Price Report and the weekly Harvest Report (available May to October). Subscribe here.

Follow USW Online. Visit our page at https://www.facebook.com/uswheat for the latest updates, photos and discussions of what is going on in the world of wheat. Also, find breaking news on Twitter at www.twitter.com/uswheatassoc and video stories at https://www.youtube.com/uswheatassociates.

Recent news and highlights from around the wheat industry.

Quote of the Week: “I want people to know that I’m producing a safe product. I think there is a lot of fear around where our food comes from. But hopefully coming straight to the source you can see that we take pride in what we do and we want to produce food that is safe to eat, because our family eats it, too.“ – Scott VanAllen, Kansas wheat farmer, speaking at his farm to food bloggers on a visit sponsored by Kansas Wheat and Red Star Yeast.

Congratulations. U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) Regional Program Coordinator Domenique Opperman, based in the Cape Town Office, recently welcomed a baby girl, Calia, who joins father Shaun and big brother Javier.

Best Wishes to Pamela Ann Leckie Wiese who is retiring after serving as an Administrative Assistant in the USW Cape Town office for more than 25 years. USW thanks Pam for her service to U.S. wheat farmers and their customers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

IGP Seeks Ag Economist. IGP International’s long time Senior Agricultural Economist Jay O’Neil retired in late June and IGP is currently seeking national or international candidates to replace him. Ideal candidates will serve as on-site expert on grain trading and risk management, and program manager for the Grain Procurement and Risk Management Curricula. Here is a link to more information about the position and to apply: https://careers.k-state.edu/cw/en-us/job/504320/senior-agricultural-economist.

Gene Editing Coalition. A multi-stakeholder steering committee of the Coalition for Responsible Gene Editing in Agriculture met recently to “develop a framework that can provide assurance to the food system and other stakeholders that those using gene editing … are doing so responsibly,” said Charlie Arnot, chief executive officer of The Center for Food Integrity (CFI), which facilitates the Coalition. “The framework will provide an opportunity for those engaged in gene editing to demonstrate their commitment to values that build trust.” For more information, visit https://geneediting.foodintegrity.org/.

Business World Notices Wheat Weather Market. An article in the “Wall Street Journal” Aug. 4 attributed rising wheat prices to heat-related short crops around the world. The article noted that “after years of over-supply, this year’s heat is hitting wheat yields in key growing areas like Russia, Ukraine, France and Britain, while also affecting the crop in Australia, China and other parts of Asia.” About price increases, AgResource analyst Ben Buckner said: “If everyone comes to the U.S. [wheat farmers] in November, it could be incredible, and that part hasn’t yet been fully digested.” Read more at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-heat-wave-toasts-wheat-and-prices-soar-1533391201.

New World-grain.com Website. The publication says the new world-grain.com will present users with a fresh layout to access content. With a new navigation system, topics are broken down into multiple categories allowing users to take a surface-level look at news or a deep dive into a topic. For users wanting to browse industry news, they can access the homepage where the newest stories are available. By clicking the “More News” icon, readers can find a feed of latest articles. Read more at https://bit.ly/2OUnfdE.

Grain Procurement Management for Importers. The Northern Crops Institute will host this eight-day course, Sep. 10 to 19, 2018, at its facilities in Fargo, N.D. The course will focus on the mechanics of grain merchandising and providing training for individuals responsible for purchasing grain. The registration deadline is Aug. 15, 2018. Learn more about the course here.

IAOM-KSU Basic and Advanced Milling Principles. The IGP Institute will host two short courses focused on milling principles in October at its conference center in Manhattan, Kan. The Basic Milling Principles short course, scheduled Oct. 8 to 12, 2018, will help participants develop a conceptual understanding of the milling process with a focus on mill balance, understanding critical control points in the milling system, and milling different wheat classes. The Advanced Milling Principles short course, scheduled Oct. 15 to 19, 2018 will educate participants on quantitative tools and practices to influence and impact, optimal machine adjustment, milling efficiency and flour quality in the mill. Learn more about the courses here.

Subscribe to USW Reports. USW publishes a variety of reports and content that are available to subscribe to, including a bi-weekly newsletter highlighting recent Wheat Letter blog posts, the weekly Price Report and the weekly Harvest Report (available May to October). Subscribe here.

Follow USW Online. Visit our page at https://www.facebook.com/uswheat for the latest updates, photos and discussions of what is going on in the world of wheat. Also, find breaking news on Twitter at www.twitter.com/uswheatassoc and video stories at https://www.youtube.com/uswheatassociates.

Photo credit: Kansas Wheat