Wheat Letter Blog Archive - Page 4 of 104

Video: USW, Oklahoma Wheat Industry Play Host to Trade Delegation from Brazil

Led by U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) Market Analyst Tyllor Ledford, a Brazilian trade delegation spent three days in Oklahoma to meet with exporters in the area who ship wheat from the largest inland port in the U.S. down to New Orleans for shipment out to customers in South America and other international markets. The team from Brazil also learned about wheat varieties and wheat research, as well as the many uses for U.S. wheat, at Oklahoma State University (OSU).

USW’s Santiago Office sponsored the team, which included wheat procurement managers from six key flour mills in Brazil. Along with Oklahoma, the team visited exporters and wheat industry leaders in Minnesota and surrounding area.

The trip helped improve the confidence in the U.S. export system, reinforced the reliability of the supply chain, and enhanced the group’s knowledge about USW wheat classes and applications. Additionally, interactions with traders established connections and deepened existing relationships.

“This team represented about 70% of total Brazilian wheat milling capacity. That’s about 8.0 MMT of wheat per year and $2.3 billion in value” said Osvaldo Seco, USW Assistant Regional Director in South America. “Participants learned about the U.S. wheat marketing system, its year-round availability, and the investment and effort of U.S. wheat producers to deliver consistent quality year after year.”

USW Past Chairman Michael Peters and the Oklahoma Wheat Commission welcomed the team during its stay in Oklahoma.

“We were excited to be able to host the Brazilian team in our state and have discussions about the wheat they are using in their part of the world,” Mike Schulte, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, said.

Schulte shares more information about the team’s visit in this short video.

August 20, 2024/by Ralph Loos

Market and Crop Analysis

USW Market and Crop Information Reports Provide Valuable, Timely Information

U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) is committed to helping customers get the wheat they want at the best value possible by providing critical market and crop information throughout the year. USW works closely with a network of traders, extension specialists, market contacts, USDA staff and, of course, our colleagues in overseas offices to analyze and update these resources regularly.

USW is well into its 2024 Harvest Report published every Friday afternoon during each season with updates and comments on harvest progress, crop conditions and current crop quality for HRW, SRW, HRS, SW and durum wheat. Harvest Report is also a key component of USW’s international technical and marketing programs. It is a resource that helps customers understand how the crop situation may affect basis values and export prices. USW’s overseas offices share the report with their market contacts and use it as a key resource in meetings and for answering inquiries. Several USW offices publish the report in the local language. Catch up on the progress of the 2024/25 crop at www.uswheat.org/harvest.

Market Information Resources

Every Friday, USW Market Analyst Tyllor Ledford compiles information from market sources, including exporters of all U.S. wheat classes from various U.S. ports, to publish the Price Report. The prices represent the value of number two grade and the proteins indicated. The report includes FOB and futures prices by class, as well as ocean freight and currency exchange rates. View the Price Report at www.uswheat.org/prices.

Each Thursday, USW releases a Commercial Sales Report that documents sales-to-date for the current marketing year compared to the previous marketing year at the same date. The report sources data from the Weekly Export Sales report published by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. View this report at www.uswheat.org/commercialSales.

Once a month, USW updates a graphic summary of USDA’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates Report and additional market information. The report summarizes factors affecting the global wheat market, historic information for all major wheat exporting countries and regions, and a by-class summary of U.S. wheat supply and demand. The data may be used without permission, but attribution to USW and USDA is appreciated. View this report at www.uswheat.org/supplyDemand.

In addition to USW’s market data reports, USW publishes this Wheat Letter blog and monthly e-newsletter. It features coverage on market analysis and crop updates, trade policy, export promotion activities and other general wheat industry news. Read the latest issue of Wheat Letter at www.uswheat.org/wheatLetter.

Subscribe

You may subscribe to have the Price Report, Harvest Report and Wheat Letter sent straight to your email.

USW’s 13 overseas offices share market and crop information and other resources with their market contacts and use them as key resources in their trade servicing activities. Contact your local USW representative for additional information.

August 16, 2024/by actualize

Kansas Wheat, Plant Breeding Innovation

Wheat’s Origin

Editor’s Note: Following are excerpts from the “Wheat Scoop” blog from U.S. Wheat Associates state commission member Kansas Wheat. Read the full article here. Photo above Copyright Kansas State University.

Long, long ago in a land far, far away, bread wheat came into existence. Researchers are still unlocking the secrets of the wild relatives of that ancient wheat to improve modern-day varieties – and a collection of seeds housed on Kimball Avenue in Manhattan [Kansas] is key to this work.

Photo of Bikram Gill, Kansas State University

Bikram Gill – Photo Copyright Kansas State University.

Bikram Gill and John Raupp with [Kansas State University’s] Wheat Genetics Resource Center sat down with Aaron Harries, Kansas Wheat vice president of research and operations … to share wheat’s origin story and how the collection continues to provide valuable genetic resources for modern wheat breeding programs.

Evolutionary Events

To understand this potential, one must go way back to the origin of wheat as a species in the Fertile Crescent – where the crop helped start human civilization more than 10,000 years ago. At that time, wheat did not yet exist. It would take two major evolutionary events that mixed three different grass species to make the first bread wheat genome.

The first stop on this timeline was the merger of two wild ancestors that resulted in the eventual creation of wild emmer wheat (genome formula AB).

“As a species in nature, nature produced bread wheat around half a million years ago,” Gill said. “Two grasses, they happened to have fun. They hybridized – and that produced bread wheat.”

The second stop on the timeline came … when that wild emmer wheat was combined with an ancient goatgrass (genome formula D). That genetic mix resulted in the first crop cultivated by humankind.

“In some farmer’s field, some goat grass hybridized with emmer wheat, which originated in Syria,” Gill said. “And that farmer was smart enough, he selected that plant. And that’s our bread wheat.”

From there, Mother Nature kept mixing in wild wheat relatives to this new bread wheat – and farmers selected the most successful versions to plant again.

“After wheat originated, these wild wheats kept cross-hybridizing with domesticated wheat,” Gill said. “There were no breeders, but nature was doing breeding for the first 10,000 years. They were cross-pollinating and farmers were selecting new types out of that.”

A Complex Genome

This origin story from Kansas State scientists is important because it explains why the wheat genome is so complex. Wheat is a hexaploid, meaning it has six sets of seven chromosomes. Most genes in wheat exist in three copies – one each from those A, B and D genomes. As a result, there are 16 billion DNA letters in the wheat genome – the human genome has three billion letters – meaning you could type out the genetic code of wheat in 12-point font and the type will go around the world.

This triplication and redundancy make wheat very hard to genetically analyze.

“It’s essentially three different genomes coexisting in one,” Gill said. “Wheat is a very elegant genetic system.”

While hard to pick through, that complexity also makes wheat a more durable crop.

“This is called genetic buffering,” Gill said. “Wheat can tolerate the extremes of environment because of this buffering caused by the redundancy of the genes.”

With this understanding of the origin and complexity of wheat, how does that relate to wheat breeding programs? Fast forward to 1979 when Gill did a postdoctoral fellowship at Kansas State and was first exposed to the genetic stocks used to map genes and breed wheat. He took that experience with him to his second postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California-Riverside, where he was blown away by the genetic diversity of a collection of wild weeds.

Gill started to form a vision of a resource that would combine the two – a collection of wild wheat relatives with unlocked genetic potential and a wheat breeding program that could replicate Mother Nature’s process of pulling in traits to make better varieties for farmers to plant.

In 1980, Gill wrote a grant and flew on a small plane to Hutchinson, the then-headquarters of the Kansas Wheat Commission to pitch his idea.

“I presented my vision – we want to establish the Wheat Genetics Resource Center … A yield bump is going to come from this because of that genetic diversity. Nobody knew what wild wheats were in the Great Plains at that time. I said I know that this is where the next big evolution is.”

Backed by approval from Kansas State’s wheat breeder at the time, the commissioners agreed to provide the seed money. Gill gathered an initial collection of 500 genetic lines, including seeds from collections in Japan, Israel, Russia and other countries. He immediately dove into early projects identifying Hessian fly resistance and leaf rust resistance …

“We are just doing what happened in nature,” Gill said. “That’s how bread wheat arose, so we are essentially repeating the same process except we’re doing it in the lab.”

Since 1980, John Raupp has served as curator of the Kansas State Wheat Genetics Resource Center a collection is up to about 4,200 genetic lines used by wheat breeders locally and around the world.

International Cooperation

Raupp has served as the curator of the Wheat Genetics Resource Center since August 1980. He noted the collection is up to about 4,200 lines …It’s his job to maintain the stocks of this genetic material, making sure scientists and breeders have access to the seeds they need to complete projects … To maintain their integrity, the seeds must be planted, grown either in a greenhouse or an outdoor plot and often hand-harvested to replenish seeds before they are no longer viable.

Today, Raupp noted he annually fulfills about 100 different requests for those seeds from researchers in neighboring states to those in countries on the other side of the planet. Aided by modern research techniques like genetic sequencing and CRISPR, these researchers continue to unlock more of that ancient genetic potential to improve the wheat varieties of tomorrow.

“It’s been a gold mine,” Harries said. “You go treasure hunting in this collection that you’ve created here. A lot of the traits that we have for stripe rust, leaf rust and viral traits all come from those wild wheat relatives. And that work is far from over.”

Learn more about wheat’s origin story and the Kansas State Wheat Genetics Resource Center by listening to the full “Wheat’s on Your Mind” podcast episode at www.WheatsOnYourMind.com. Watch the video below to learn more about how wheat breeders use genetic lines to produce new, more productive, higher quality U.S. wheat varieties.

By Julia Debes for Kansas Wheat

August 16, 2024/by Steve Mercer

Wheat Industry News

News and Information from Around the World Wheat Industry

Speaking of Wheat

“It’s kind of a nuanced thing, but there’s some challenges right now in the movement of grain across the world, particularly in the Suez Canal, and ocean freight does make a difference. It influences the relative profitability of the U.S. Pacific Northwest vs. the U.S. Gulf vs. Brazil vs. the Black Sea. It’s like shipping product across the U.S. by truck. When trucking rates go up, all of a sudden the normal supply can shift a bit and customers may buy product from elsewhere, so I’m watching that with all the political upheaval going on around the world right now.” – Dr. Frayne Olson, Professor/Crops Economist, North Dakota State University, from an article in Farm & Ranch Guide.

SDSU Researchers Aim to Improve Heat Tolerance in Wheat Crops

Concerned that changes in the climate may cause future wheat production to decline, a team from South Dakota State University intends to edit the genetic code of wheat varieties to make them more tolerant to heat stress. “Our goal is to improve heat tolerance of wheat via precision genome editing technology,” said Wanlong Li, primary investigator on the project and a professor in SDSU’s Department of Biology and Microbiology. Read more here.

Artist Completes 108-foot Turkey Red Winter Wheat Mural on Kansas Grain Elevator

Mindy Allen, a mural artist in Kansas, recently finished her largest project to date — a 108-foot-tall mural on a grain elevator in rural Inman. The project began as a way to celebrate the 150th anniversary of turkey red winter wheat’s introduction to Kansas. Allen, whose business is called Mindy’s Murals, was determined to honor this milestone accurately. She even engaged the community by setting up a donation poll on Facebook, allowing locals to vote on the color of the combine featured in the mural. Read more here.

Nebraska: Heat Keeps Rains Away During Wheat Harvest

Amid the high temperatures in western Nebraska, wheat harvest has been going on. “We’re right in the middle of wheat harvest,” said Cody Creech, Nebraska Extension dryland cropping specialist at the UNL High Plains Ag Lab in Sidney. “The rest of the state has wrapped up, and we’ll be completing harvest this week.” Typical for most growers, weather has been a big factor in wheat yields. The yield reports in the Panhandle vary depending on whether the fields were hit by hail or not. “The hail was sporadic this year, where it didn’t wipe out a crop but impacted the yield from field to field,” Creech said. He added another timely rain would have been good to push the wheat before harvest, but overall wheat yields have been strong across the state. Read more here.

Progress is a Parasitoid Wasp for Colorado Wheat Farmers Plagued by Sawfly

Erika Peirce is one of many soldiers in the shadow army of scientists and researchers working behind the scenes, without glory or recognition, to protect the nation’s wheat crop from a tiny foe: the wheat stem sawfly. An entomologist by training who now works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rangeland Unit, Peirce has dedicated much of her career to studying the sawfly. It’s a native bug that started out benignly enough in wild grasslands. But in recent decades, it evolved to emerge about four weeks earlier each season, rendering it a major pest that devastates winter wheat — a crop that happens to be Colorado’s largest by acreage. Read more here.

Subscribe to USW Reports

USW publishes various reports and content available to subscribe to, including a bi-weekly newsletter highlighting recent Wheat Letter blog posts and wheat industry news, the weekly Price Report, and the weekly Harvest Report (available May to October). Subscribe here.

Follow USW Online

Visit our Facebook page for the latest updates, photos, and discussions of what is going on in the world of wheat. Also, find breaking news on Twitter, video stories on Vimeo and YouTube, and more on LinkedIn.

July 25, 2024/by Ralph Loos

durum, Hard Red Spring, Wheat Quality

Positive Findings During Hard Red Spring and Durum Wheat Tour Produces Optimism in North Dakota

USW Director of Communications Ralph Loos examines a field of hard red spring wheat in Traill County, North Dakota during the 2024 Wheat Quality Tour.

USW Director of Communications Ralph Loos examines a field of hard red spring wheat in Traill County, North Dakota during the 2024 Hard Red Spring and Durum Wheat Tour.

After three days of analyzing, counting and calculating, participants came to a common conclusion: North Dakota wheat farmers may have produced their best crop in decades.

That was the general feeling as the Wheat Quality Council’s 2024 Hard Red Spring and Durum Wheat Tour wrapped up on July 25. More than 40 millers, bakers, grain company representatives, members of the media and government employees from around the country teamed up to examine more than 250 fields of hard red spring (HRS) and durum wheat in the host state – as well as a small number of fields in neighboring Minnesota and South Dakota.

A Three-Day Tour of Wheat

After three days of touring, the average HRS wheat yield was projected at 54.5 bushels per acre, up from 47.4 bushels last year. The durum fields visited had a projected yield of 45.3 bushels per acre, up from the 2023 projections of 43.9. Two hard red winter (HRW) wheat fields on the tour had a projected yield of 51.4 bushels per acre.

An educational session at the North Dakota State University’s Agronomy Seed Farm kicked off this year’s tour.

Optimism and Patience

Dave Green, Executive Vice President of the Wheat Quality Council, said weather conditions in the weeks up until harvest will determine if the 2024 North Dakota wheat crop is record-breaking.

But there is plenty of room for optimism.

“I don’t ever remember the crops being this uniformly good all over the state,” Green, who again was assisted by Brian Walker of BW Consulting and tour statistician Rita Ott of General Mills, said. “We can’t get ahead of ourselves until harvest begins and farmers begin taking wheat out of the fields. At this point, things look really good for some of the best yields we have seen in a number of years.”

For the most part, HRS fields in North Dakota were 3 to 6 weeks from being ready for harvest.

As is typical, a small number of reports of head blight (more commonly referred to as “scab”), stripe rust, wheat stem maggot, and insects were included in reports. However, also noted in those reports was the fact farmers had made timely applications of pesticide sprays to avert effects from pests. The timing of harvest will determine how much of an effect scab has on realized yields.

Variety of Participants

The tour began on July 22 with a training session and a visit to North Dakota State University’s Agronomy Seed Farm. On July 23, participants gathered in Fargo, North Dakota and were broken into teams. Those teams fanned out across the state to analyze this year’s crop. Director of Communications Ralph Loos represented U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) on the tour.

“The thing that makes this tour work so well each year is the fact that you have a collection of people from different parts of the wheat industry who are all interested in the same thing – learning about the crop and all of the things that factor into the success of the crop,” Loos said. “It’s a wide cross-section of people, with varying levels of experience. But I think everyone who participates goes away learning something they did not know before the tour. For U.S. Wheat, it was especially nice to see staff from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) on the tour.”

Dave Green, Executive Vice President of the Wheat Quality Council, helps prepare participants in the 2024 Hard Spring and Durum Wheat Quality Tour during a visit to visit to North Dakota State University’s Agronomy Seed Farm.

July 25, 2024/by Ralph Loos

Tyllor Ledford, Wheat Prices

Production Outlook: Turning a Corner in 2024

As harvest rolls throughout the U.S. Plains, farmers see the culmination of their year’s hard work and investment as crops move from field to bin, eventually becoming products consumed worldwide. After three years of drought that reduced yields, impacted quality, and drove near-record abandonment, the 2024 harvest season stands out as the most promising in recent memory.

The following will outline current harvest progress, crop conditions, and export trends for the marketing year to date as the 2024 crop suggests production will “turn a corner” away from the challenges seen over the last three years.

A Look Back

When the 2023 U.S. winter wheat crop was seeded in 2022, income potential for wheat appeared favorable, with prices still elevated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As a result, total seeded wheat area for 2023 was up 8% from the prior year. With current prices falling in line, or in some cases below pre-war trends, and input prices remaining high, profit margins have tightened, placing additional pressure on farmers. As a result, 2024 wheat acres were down 5% to 47.2 million acres, nearly even with the five-year average.

Looking at the acreage by class, the area included 24.1 million acres of HRW (down 6% year over year), 6.1 million acres of SRW (down 17%), 10.6 million acres of HRS (up 1%), 2.2 million acres of durum (up 31%), and 4.6 million acres of white wheat (up 6%). Although the 2024 wheat area is lower year over year, the July 2024 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) put U.S. wheat production a 54.6 MMT, up 10% from the year prior on increased yields, improved weather, and good moisture. Source: July WASDE

A Current Harvest Snapshot

As the U.S. winter wheat harvest begins to wind down, the July 21 Crop Progress Report estimates that 76% of winter wheat is in the bin, up 11 points from the year prior and 4 points ahead of the five year average. Warm weather and improved moisture accelerated crop maturation across much of the hard red winter (HRW) growing region and the first by class estimates put HRW production at 20.8 MMT, a 27% increase from the year prior. On the other hand, soft red winter (SRW) production estimates sit at 9.4 MMT, down 23% from last year’s record yields, though still sitting 4% ahead of the five-year average.

Spring wheat development remains on schedule with 89% of the crop headed, nearly even with the five-year average. As of July 21, 77% of the crop sits in good to excellent condition, up from 49% last year as rains and cool weather boost yield potential. A reflection of the good ratings, the July WASDE put hard red spring (HRS) production at 14.5 MMT and durum at 2.4 MMT, a yearly increase of 14% and 51%, respectively. For white wheat (which includes both winter and spring varieties), production estimates sit at 7.6 MMT, a 19% increase year over year.

Although the 2024 wheat area is lower year over year, the July 2024 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) put U.S. wheat production a 54.6 MMT, up 10% from the year prior on increased yields, improved weather, and good moisture. The USDA estimates also show renewed optimism for exports, with the July projections setting exports at 22.4 MMT, the highest since 2020/21, but still 15% below the pre-drought five-year average. Source: July WASDE

Customers Capture Value

More normalized production has helped prices become more competitive in recent weeks. When U.S. wheat prices hit multi year lows in late June, buyers responded with increased purchases of U.S. wheat, peaking at 805,300 MT on June 27, 2024. Over the last month, weekly net sales averaged 576,200 MT and as of July 11, the total known outstanding sales for MY 2024/25 reached 7.7 MMT, 49% ahead of last year’s pace.

Customers worldwide have increased their purchases relative to last year, with notable increases in four of the top five U.S. wheat importers to date. Likewise, buyers in Panama, Brazil, Thailand, and Indonesia have logged additional sales, showing increase of 571%, 240%, 175%, and 273%. Source: USDA FAS Export Sales Data

Customers worldwide have increased their purchases relative to last year, with notable increases in four of the top five U.S. wheat importers to date. The USDA’s July projections reflect this renewed optimism, setting exports at 22.4 MMT, the highest since 2020/21, though still 15% below the pre-drought five-year average.

As the harvest progresses, there is an opportunity to capitalize on the value of U.S. wheat. Price spreads have narrowed and continue to align more closely with other origins. Improved production simplifies purchasing decisions, and as always, U.S. Wheat Associates is ready to help customers find the best value.

July 24, 2024/by Ralph Loos

Food Aid

USW Joins Letter to Congress Opposing Proposed Significant Cuts to Food for Peace Program

U.S Wheat Associates (USW) and the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) joined 90 agriculture, humanitarian, shipping, and labor organizations in signing a letter opposing a proposed reduction of $619 million to the Food for Peace Program.

The letter was addressed to the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations, which released an initial funding bill for Fiscal Year 2025. That bill included the significant cut to Food for Peace.

Ag Groups Concerned

The proposed reduction caused alarms to go off within agricultural groups that participate in food assistance programs. Food for Peace is the largest food assistance program in which USW participates. Wheat typically makes up about 60% of commodities donated under the program.

“Such a drastic cut would really be a blow, not just wheat farmers, but people involved in growing all commodities used in the program,” said Peter Laudeman, USW’s Director of Trade Policy. “This is tremendously important to a variety of American stakeholders. A crucial question about foreign aid programs is, ‘how does the U.S. best implement foreign aid policy? We think starting with American constituencies is important. And that is exactly what the Food for Peace program does – it starts with U.S. farmers growing food. That is why we were proud to sign on to that letter and push back against this substantial cut.”

House Vote Pending

The letter to the House Appropriations Committee begins by asking committee members to vote “no” on the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025.

“Under the current text, our nation’s flagship international food aid program Food for Peace would be funded at only $1 billion, an enormous $619 million reduction from FY24 levels, already a large cut from FY23, and dramatically below the authorized level of $2.5 billion,” the letter then explains. “Catastrophically, this further cut comes at a time of unprecedented global hunger. Now is not the time to slow the provision of much-needed aid.”

Along with USW and NAWG, other groups signing the letter included the North American Millers’ Association, the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers, and the Washington Association of Wheat Growers.

Laudeman is hopeful that the U.S. Senate’s version of the bill may not have that same drastic cut to Food for Peace. It is possible the final piece of legislation may include funding levels at or close to existing funding levels.

During his visit to Kenya, USW Director of Trade Policy Peter Laudeman was given a tour of the World Food Programme warehousing facility for the Kakuma refugee camp.

Food Aid Learning Journey to Kenya

As part of its Food Aid Working Group, USW has conducted fact-finding visits to countries receiving U.S. assistance. Laudeman recently traveled to Kenya, where, thanks to the World Food Programme (WFP) he was able to observe how food assistance is utilized locally.

“We spent time in Mombasa looking at import infrastructure and warehousing capabilities, and how they manage grain. The Kenyan operation also serves as an East African regional hub for all of the programs and activities,” Laudeman explained. “They’ve historically received wheat into Mombasa, had the wheat toll milled, and sent the flour on to other countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo for emergency feeding needs. I was also able to spend time in Nairobi meeting with more of the logistics team. I also met with the country director for the World Food Programme in Kenya, and learned more about their long-term structural environment.

“Perhaps the most exciting thing I learned is that the World Food Programme said they could use a shipment of U.S. wheat at any time,” Laudeman said. “And so, while that is not an immediate opportunity, it is something about which we hope to work with the U.S. government. We will continue to discuss where wheat is being used in food assistance programs. Everyone wants to learn how we can make it easier. We also want to see how we can make coordination and logistics work.”

July 19, 2024/by Ralph Loos

Board of Directors

Video: Idaho Wheat Farmer Clark Hamilton Begins Term as USW Chairman During Oklahoma City Meeting

Idaho Producer Clark Hamilton assumed the role of U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) Chairman during the recent USW Board of Directors meeting in Oklahoma City, Okla. The Board recognized outgoing Chairman Michael Peters, of Okarche, Okla., who passed the gavel to Hamilton on July 11. Jim Pellman, of McClusky, N.D., started his term as Vice Chairman. Gary Millershaski, of Lakin, Kan., was seated as Secretary-Treasurer.

The Board Meeting included several USW committee and working group meetings, including Wheat Quality, Wheat Transportation, Long Range Planning, Communications, and Food Aid.

Hamilton, who farms with his family in Ririe, Idaho, will lead USW for the next year. Learn more about him and his plans in this short video . . .

July 17, 2024/by Ralph Loos

Wheat Export Supply System, Wheat inspection, Wheat Quality

USW Helps Customers Understand the Value of U.S. Wheat Inspection Procedures

The U.S. farm families who produce the wheat and the industry that supplies it are committed to keeping and open and transparent market. There are many reasons why our overseas customers know they can depend on our supply chain’s integrity, the quality of U.S. wheat and our unmatched reliability as a supplier. A crucial example is the third party wheat inspection procedures that yield valuable data customers can use, with help from U.S. Wheat Associates (USW), to get even more value from their purchases.

USW has partnered with USDA’s Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) and Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) to produce an “Overview of U.S. Wheat Inspection.” This publication compiles official sampling, weighing, inspection, and certification procedures employed by FGIS, or FGIS-authorized state and private agencies, for U.S. wheat export shipments. The “Overview” provides a convenient, concise reference for U.S. wheat importers and end users about U.S. wheat standards, inspection methods, procedures, and resulting data about their purchases.

Federally Mandated Wheat Inspection

Based on two congressional acts establishing a standardized process, trained and certified officials inspect and grade all wheat exported from the United States as it is loaded onto an export vessel, whether it be a train or ship. This independent wheat inspection procedure sets the United States apart by providing a form of certainty and protection for global wheat buyers.

The supply chain follows federally regulated and uniform grain segregation and inspection procedures. U.S. country elevators and export elevators inspect and test wheat as it arrives and segregates by class and quality to meet customer requirements. FGIS independently inspects wheat at vessel loading to certify that the quality loaded matches the customer’s specifications. No wheat is loaded onto a vessel until inspection is completed.

Every FGIS field office has a Quality Assurance Specialist trained to ensure inspectors and testing equipment are performing accurately. A Board of Appeals and Review is comprised of the Agency’s most senior inspectors who make final determinations on grain quality assessments.

Five Inspection Operations

An FGIS inspector uses a Boerner Divider to cut down the wheat sample into 2 smaller, equal portions for inspection.

The “Overview of U.S. Wheat Inspection” describes the five basic operations performed at export before and during vessel loading: stowage examination; weighing; sampling; inspection; and certification.

Official weighing is mandatory for all grain exported from the United States by sea. FGIS integrates weighing systems into export elevator systems and supervises the entire weighing process. Results are documented and reviewed to certify the true weight of the cargo.

When a bulk vessel arrives at a U.S. export elevator, federal inspectors examine the ship’s holds for potential defects to ensure the vessel is substantially clean, dry, and ready to receive wheat and issue an official stowage examination certificate for the buyer.

By means of a standardized “diverter” mechanical device, FGIS inspectors in an onsite laboratory receive a consistent sample volume of wheat entering the elevator’s shipping bins, which is held until inspections are complete. After passing preliminary tests, the FGIS sample is divided into a “work” sample used to determine all grading factors and to inspect and certify other quality factors specified in the sales contract, and a “file” sample that FGIS keeps sealed for 90 days after wheat inspection.

Each sublot of grain must meet, within specified tolerances, the official grade and factors the buyer requests in their contract. Sublots that do not meet tolerances are not loaded into the vessel and are returned to the elevator. An inspection log is recorded for each sublot, providing a complete record of all inspection information that the buyer may request. Local USW representatives can help buyers adjust their future contract specifications based on this inspection data to ensure they receive the quality they need at the best price. The “Overview of U.S. Wheat Inspections” booklet online includes examples of all official certifications and logs the federally regulated U.S. grain inspection procedures generate.

USW Customer Support

USW strongly supports the unique U.S. grain inspection system as a competitive advantage to the world’s wheat buyers and makes an effort to demonstrate the integrity of the U.S. wheat supply chain in cooperation with the FGIS international affairs office. In addition to publishing the “Overview of U.S. Wheat Inspection,” USW and FGIS have conducted many inspection workshops for overseas buyers.

USW believes this wheat inspection training for importing customers gives them a deeper understanding of and increased trust in the FGIS inspection and certification process. The changes implemented in the mills following the training sessions should result in fewer discrepancies between the FGIS grade and the results of local, in-plant inspections, leading to increased satisfaction with U.S. wheat.

In cooperation with USW, FGIS agent José Robinson was in Lima, Peru, in 2019 to conduct half-day seminars for wheat importing companies. Robinson educated flour mill quality control managers on the FGIS wheat inspection process as part of USW’s trade and technical service activities.

Here are online resources for additional information:

USW Dependable People, Reliable Wheat Fact Sheet

Official Grain Inspection & Weighing System

USDA Grain Inspectors Work to Uphold America’s Reputation for Quality, Support New Markets

ATP Funds, FGIS To Help Train Importers to Recognize Wheat Grade Factors

July 16, 2024/by Steve Mercer

Wheat Industry News

News and Information from Around the World Wheat Industry