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Wheat Industry News

Recent news and highlights from around the wheat industry.

Speaking of Wheat: “I hope in another century our future generations look back at our world and see how we worked to improve it for all for them. And I hope that despite farming changes and progress, wheat remains growing in farm fields.” – Katie Pinke, Publisher, Agweek. Read more.

USW Past Chairman Awarded Dr. James R. Miller Award. Jason Scott, a Maryland wheat farmer who served as USW’s 2016/17 Chairman, was recently awarded the Dr. James R. Miller Award during Maryland’s 22nd Annual Commodity Classic, held virtually this year. This award recognizes an individual for their contributions to Maryland’s grain industry. Scott, who has been on the Maryland Grain Producers board for 16 years and has served in several leadership positions, works alongside his family growing wheat, corn, soybeans, malt barley, and sweet corn for processing, as well as selling seed for Pioneer. Learn more about Scott and the award here.

USW recommends a visit to the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) YouTube channel to see a series of presentations on how plant breeding innovations like gene editing can positively address continuing access to safe and affordable nutrition – despite new and evolving threats to our global food security. Visit the channel here.

2020 National Wheat Yield Contest. On February 18, 2020, the National Wheat Foundation officially opened the 2020 National Wheat Yield Contest! The Contest is divided into two primary competition categories: winter wheat and spring wheat, and two subcategories: dryland and irrigated. The Foundation is currently accepting entries for the Spring Wheat category. The deadline to submit is August 1. Learn more here. 

USW expresses sympathy to the family and friends of Dr. Owen J. Newlin, a U.S. grain industry pioneer who passed away recently. During and after his career with Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Dr. Newlin actively supported: ballot initiatives to create state corn checkoff programs; initiating overseas industry missions to educate future farmer leaders; and defending the USDA/FAS Foreign Market Development program, a source of funding for USW export market development. Read more in this statement from U.S. Grains Council.

Cereal Science Events Calendar. Every month, cereal scientist M. Hikmet Boyacioglu, Ph.D., compiles an industry calendar of events. Click here to see the mid-July 2020 calendar. To receive the calendar, please write to Dr. Boyacioglu at [email protected].

BASF and PowerPollen collaborate in research on hybrid wheat. BASF and PowerPollen® have signed an agreement to further develop and apply the company’s patented pollen preservation and application technology to improve cross-pollination and enhance BASF’s proprietary wheat program. Read the joint statement here.

Study Finds Whole Grains Lower Risk of Diabetes. Researchers found consuming one or more servings a day of whole grain cold breakfast cereal was associated with a 19 percent lower risk of becoming diabetic. Read more about the study here.

Registration Underway for Three September IAOM-KSU Milling Courses. IAOM has joined with Kansas State University’s IGP Institute to offer a variety of milling courses, which will be held in Manhattan, Kan. Register for these classes 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 Facebook page at 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 more on LinkedIn.

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Meet the USW Technical Experts: Andrés Saturno – A Family Legacy of Milling Innovation

Name: Andrés Saturno

Title: Technical Specialist

Office: USW South American Regional Office, Santiago

Providing Service to: Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru

Though raised in Carialinda, Venezuela, located in the mountains of Naguanagua, U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) Technical Specialist Andrés Saturno and his two brothers grew up with Italian and Spanish influences from his parents and grandmother. Bread was a big part of their table, and Saturno learned how to make many different kinds.

“Our daily consumption of wheat breads included close to twenty bollitos, which are French-style rolls, and two pan campesinos, a Spanish-style artisan bread,” Saturno said. “I also have made my favorite dish, gnocchi, from my grandmother’s recipe.”

Throughout his younger years, Saturno and his father, Andrea, a professional miller, worked on presentations related to wheat flour for his school science fairs. Saturno said their best presentation compared the properties of wheat gluten with other cereals. For this, they produced and displayed rice flour bread “that looked like a stone” and “beautiful wheat flour bread.”

Like Father, Like Son

In Saturno’s childhood, the group of mills where his father worked as the general manager and as the first Director of the Latin American School of Milling, known as ESLAMO, also made quite an impression.

“I was always fascinated to see the trains loaded with wheat entering the mill where my father worked,” Saturno said, “and with the analysis equipment in the ESLAMO milling school that USW had originally donated.”

After high school, Saturno was undecided if he wanted to be a mechanical engineer or a chef, but his father’s career influenced him to major in milling engineering. Saturno decided to attend Universidad Panamericana Del Puerto, where his father had started the milling engineering major, and he took great interest in the specific food processes and engineering behind milling.

Andrés (far right) with his father, Andrea (middle right), and his brothers in 2004.

“My dad has always been an example for me as a person and as a professional,” Saturno said. “Everyone said good things about him, and that influenced me even at school.”

Building a Career

During his time at the university, he honed his skills at ESLAMO and gained more experience with wheat, flour, baking, and pasta analysis. Saturno said that his time at the university and ESLAMO gave him the theoretical and practical tools to understand and solve problems in the milling process.

Andrés and his classmates at the ESLAMO milling school.

After graduation, Saturno’s first job was at a durum mill owned by a pasta factory. Saturno learned about milling semolina, pasta production, and how to operate a mill built in the 1950s. Saturno then worked at a food consulting company installing milling equipment and accessories and various other agro-industry equipment in animal handling facilities and feed plants. While working for the food consulting company, he had the opportunity to return to his university to teach milling.

“It was the most beautiful job I had,” Saturno said. “I still have communication with my students. Nothing is more rewarding than teaching.”

Building on his work at an older, established mill, Saturno moved to Honduras to work as the head of milling production in a brand-new flour mill. While there, Saturno learned how to grind U.S. soft red winter (SRW) wheat and produce flour for products like tortillas by blending different wheat classes.

Here, Saturno is providing in-plant technical service for a customer in Brazil.

The Right Fit

During Saturno’s time in Honduras, USW worked with its state wheat commission member organizations in the Pacific Northwest to develop and fund a new technical specialist position based in its South American regional office in Santiago, Chile. Changes in regional markets significantly influenced the need to add technical expertise in flour milling and blending. Someone with that experience and good communication skills would be needed.

During the search in early 2018, Casey Chumrau, who at the time was serving as USW Marketing Manager in the South American region, and is now executive director for the Idaho Wheat Commission, reached out to Andrea Saturno, who had been working with USW as a milling consultant since 2013, to ask about potential candidates.

“Turns out, his son, Andrés, was looking for a new job,” Chumrau said. “Since we had been working with Andrea, I knew we would have to be extra diligent in vetting his son to avoid any bias,” Chumrau said. “From the first contact, however, Andrés was extremely professional and showed a lot of potential. We knew he had the passion and personality to do the job,” Chumrau added. “Once Mark Fowler (USW Vice President of Global Technical Services) confirmed Andrés had the technical knowledge, we offered him the job.”

“I loved the idea of working with many different mills and processes where wheat is involved,” Saturno said. “I received the call for the job with USW, and at that moment, I said, ‘I can’t lose this chance.’”

With USW/Santiago, Saturno’s role is to work closely with customers and technical staff in South America to provide training, technical advice, and ongoing support to millers. To accomplish this, Saturno creates seminars and technical classes for the South American region to build relationships while providing valuable information and skills to USW customers.

“Andrés has extensive soft skills and excellent relationships with regional customers and his team,” Claudia Gomez, USW Senior Marketing Specialist in the USW Santiago Office, said. “He also provides important technical knowledge in milling and very good speaking skills to [present] various technical information to our clients.”

USW Brazilian Technical Trade Delegation to the United States on a visit to ADM Milling.

“Andrés’ expertise has allowed our customers to get the best out of our wheat during the cleaning, conditioning, and milling processes,” Miguel Galdós, USW Regional Director, South America, said. “Through post-sale activities, Andrés has collaborated with different mills in the region, creating confidence and loyalty with the technical staff of our customers.”

Technical Service

Saturno’s work helps USW Santiago provide services and training on all six U.S. wheat classes to customers in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru. Financial support for his activities comes from state wheat commissions in Washington, Idaho, and Oregon and USDA/Foreign Agricultural Service export market development programs.

Some examples of his work include utilizing the Quality Samples Program (QSP) to introduce hard red winter (HRW) and hard red spring (HRS) wheat to a Chilean mill and soft white (SW) wheat to a mill in Colombia, leading a USW-sponsored team of Brazilian flour managers on a visit to the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service Soft Wheat Laboratory in Wooster, Ohio, and on tours of wheat research facilities at Kansas State University and Texas A&M University.

Andrés co-led a QSP and milling seminar at Molino La Estampa in Chile with his father, Andrea Saturno, and USW colleague Casey Chumrau (now Idaho Wheat Commission Executive Director). The La Estampa QSP activity encouraged the mill to import 4,500 metric tons (MT) of HRW and 1,000 MT of SRW. 

“In previous years, USW was an institution that, although it had an office [in Santiago], there was no local contact to turn to in case of technical doubts,” said Maria Ines Velarde, Lab Manager, Molino La Estampa, Santiago, Chile. “The change in strategy that we have seen the last years, which included the arrival of Andrés Saturno, has meant that USW and La Estampa got closer, and that created ties and trust that allow us to have key and reliable information to make decisions at the right time.”

With Saturno as a technical specialist, USW can now give customers in the South American region more complete customer service.

Traveling with USW Santiago colleagues. (L to R) Andrés Saturno, Osvaldo Seco, Casey Chumrau and Miguel Galdos.

“This helped us widen our service area spectrum for our clients,” Saturno said. “Now we give constant technical attention to the personnel of laboratories, bakeries, milling, marketing, post-sale technicians, buyers, and owners of the mills.”

Saturno’s passion for the industry, experience in technical training, and ability to communicate with his customers has earned the respect not only of his customers but also of his colleagues.

“Andrés has contributed strong technical knowledge in the milling process, which has been a great value for all our regional customers, giving them the necessary technical support to obtain the best return from our wheat,” Galdós said.

“In addition to being a professional milling expert, Andrés is one of the best people in the world,” Chumrau said. “He truly wants each mill to be successful and doesn’t need any of the credit. He is a team player, a dedicated employee, and a great colleague. Andrés is and undoubtedly will further the mission of USW representing U.S. wheat farmers and their products.”

Andrés and his wife, Berenice, at an ALIM conference in Mexico.

Andrés and his son, Alessio Massimiliano Saturno Ramos, born on February 19, 2020.

By Dylan Davidson, USW Communications Intern

Editor’s Note: This is the ninth in a series of posts profiling U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) technical experts in flour milling and wheat foods production. USW Vice President of Global Technical Services Mark Fowler says technical support to overseas customers is an essential part of export market development for U.S. wheat. “Technical support adds differential value to the reliable supply of U.S. wheat,” Fowler says. “Our customers must constantly improve their products in an increasingly competitive environment. We can help them compete by demonstrating the advantages of using the right U.S. wheat class or blend of classes to produce the wide variety of wheat-based foods the world’s consumers demand.”

Header Photo Caption: Andrés (far right) at a USW milling seminar in Fortaleza, Brazil with fellow USW staff, Peter Lloyd (second from left) and Miguel Galdos (second to right).

Meet the other USW Technical Experts in this blog series:

Ting Liu – Opening Doors in a Naturally Winning Way
Shin Hak “David” Oh – Expertise Fermented in Korean Food Culture
Tarik Gahi – ‘For a Piece of Bread, Son’
Gerry Mendoza – Born to Teach and Share His Love for Baking
Marcelo Mitre – A Love of Food and Technology that Bakes in Value and Loyalty
Peter Lloyd – International Man of Milling
Ivan Goh – An Energetic Individual Born to the Food Industry
 Adrian Redondo – Inspired to Help by Hard Work and a Hero
Wei-lin Chou – Finding Harmony in the Wheat Industry

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A Legacy of Commitment – Finding a Connection Through the Wheat Fields

Reprinted with Permission from Agweek, July 10, 2020, by Katie Pinke. 

Wheat acreage in 2020 is the lowest since records began in 1919, another year marked by a global pandemic.

I read and then heard the AgweekTV report that the 44.3 million acres of planted wheat acres in 2020 are the lowest since records started being kept in 1919, according to the June U.S. Department of Agriculture acreage report. As a wheat farmer’s daughter who currently lives and works where five generations have farmed, the year 1919 flashed before me. I thought of what and who was on the farm then.

1919. The second year of a global health pandemic, a flu impacting a third of the world’s population, more than 500 million people. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mortality was higher in children ages 5 and under, ages 20-40 and 65 years or older. You can walk rural cemeteries to see the impact of the flu pandemic of 1918-19 and know it impacted your ancestors and their communities.

Wheat harvest in North Dakota, circa 1919.

1919 was also the timeframe my great-grandfather, Oscar Huso Sr., had completed the building of a large new farmhouse for his wife, Joyce, and she was expecting their first child. The family stories that have been passed down to me were that Joyce became sick with the flu that killed an estimated 675,000 Americans. The baby Joyce was carrying died.

In the “Yesteryears” of the local Aneta (N.D.) Star July 2, 2020, edition it reads that my great-grandfather and his wife have the sympathy of the community in the loss of their infant daughter. Funeral services were held. She was buried at the local cemetery. “Mrs. Huso, who has been quite ill, is recovering very nicely.”

Except, Joyce didn’t recover. She remained sickly, and in 1922, she died. I was told the residual effects of the flu held on. She lost two babies and then eventually weakness and sickness took her life. She was about 30 years old. My great-grandfather was about 38 years old.

I know he planted wheat and kept farming, alone, in the five-bedroom farmhouse he built for his late wife and children he never raised.

I think of my great-grandfather who I never met and the brokenness he felt in those years. I connect those feelings to the silent suffering millions are experiencing now through a different but somewhat similar global health pandemic.

And here I am, on the farm where my great-grandpa grieved.

Not far from the farm Joyce grew up on was a single woman in her 30s, Signa, farming and living with her mother. Signa certainly was not thinking marriage or children were in her future, I imagine. But Oscar Sr. came courting and calling to the same area, only this time his love was Signa. He asked for her hand in marriage, presenting her with a platinum diamond ring, and in 1924 they were married.

Signa gave birth to my grandfather, Oscar Jr., in the five-bedroom farmhouse in 1925. The story my grandpa told me as a child was his father had a fear of pregnancies and hospitals, so even though area communities had local hospitals for childbirth by the 1920s, he was born at home, on the farm.

My grandpa wasn’t eating and thriving after being born. Signa’s Norweigian immigrant mother, Kirsti, an area midwife and widowed farmer, came to help. Kirsti fed my infant grandfather a milk mush on a rag to help him along in his early days of life. It worked. Oscar Sr. and his wife Signa raised my grandfather and his two sisters on the farm, realizing his long-awaited family dreams.

My grandpa lived almost all of his lifetime on the farm, minus his years of military service and college. His wife, Nola, my grandmother, remains living in the farmhouse built during the pandemic of 1918-19.

While I am told Signa never spoke of Joyce, a painting of Joyce’s always remained hung on a living room wall. My grandmother said he knows Oscar Sr. and Joyce’s wedding photos are in the house, and she’s going to find them for me. My great-great-aunt Iris, one of the oldest living Americans at age 114, has told me in past years Joyce was her first-grade teacher and remains the most beautiful woman she’s ever seen.

Katie Pinke and the next generation of her family visited Silent Hill Cemetery, rural Aneta, N.D. to find the gravestones talked about through family stories. (Katie Pinke/Agweek)

I drove to the rural cemetery this week with my daughters, niece and nephew, walking to Joyce’s gravestone, which is placed next to the one engraved with “Baby 1919 and Baby 1920.” Life on our family farm wouldn’t look like it does today if Joyce lived a long, full life. I paid my respects, explaining to the kids the details I’ve been told of the loss and family farm connection they have to her and the babies.

Then we passed green fields of wheat as we drove back to the farm, just down the road from where Oscar Sr.’s original farmhouse stands tall. We’re better off today in a global health pandemic than Oscar Sr. and Joyce were in 1919. I am a grateful wheat farmer’s daughter. I hope in another century our future generations look back at our world and see how we worked to improve it for all for them. And I hope that despite farming changes and progress, wheat remains growing in farm fields.

Pinke is the publisher and general manager of Agweek. She can be reached at [email protected], or connect with her on Twitter @katpinke.

 

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Tight Exportable Supplies, Elevation Capacity Prop Up SRW Export Prices

By Claire Hutchins, USW Market Analyst

The inverted spread in export prices for U.S. soft red winter (SRW) and hard red winter (HRW) that has appeared occasionally recently settled into the market in early July. What is happening to fuel this situation?

First, there are limited exportable supplies of SRW along the Mississippi River due to lower planted area in key states. That lower supply of SRW is also competing for export elevation capacity in the Center Gulf with increased export demand for soybeans and corn. U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) believes these two factors could continue to support Gulf SRW export prices in the coming weeks.

Source: USW weekly Price Report

Between June 26 and July 17, Gulf SRW free on board (FOB) prices increased 16 percent to $239/MT.

With planted area down 13 percent and 12 percent in two key SRW-producing states, Illinois and Missouri, respectively, the recent harvest did little to improve exportable supplies of SRW. The SRW harvest in states tributary to the Mississippi River feeding into Center Gulf export terminals, was “a flash in the pan” said one grain exporter.

“We don’t have abundant supplies up and down the Mississippi River and rail rates are just too high for it to make sense to pull SRW supplies inland from the Midwestern states,” said another trader.

A swift uptick in export demand for U.S. soybeans and corn is limiting export elevation capacity out of the Center Gulf, which adds support to nearby Gulf SRW export prices. According to U.S. grain traders, customers may have difficulty finding export capacity for “grocery boats” (vessels containing multiple commodities or multiple classes of wheat) out of the Center Gulf for nearby deliveries which supports SRW export prices.

Soybeans. “A lot of customers are surprised by the fact that export capacity is filling up so quickly with soybeans,” said one industry contact. The reason, however, is no surprise: China’s dramatic increase in U.S. soybean purchases this year compared to previous years. According to USDA, China bought 1.49 million metric tons (MMT) of U.S. soybeans between May 28 and July 9 for delivery in 2019/20. That is nearly 35 percent more than the 959,000 metric tons (MT) China purchased over the same period in 2019. U.S. soybean sales to all destinations, between May 28 and July 9, reached 4.15 MMT, nearly double the volume over the same period in 2019.

Source: USDA FAS Export Sales data as of July 9, 2020

Corn. Between May 28 and July 9, total U.S. corn export sales, to all destinations, reached 3.65 MMT, more than double the volume sold over the same period in 2019. Export sales to Mexico, the largest market for U.S. corn, reached 815,000 MT during the previously noted 2020 period, nearly quadruple the total volume sold in 2019. Between July 2 and July 9, USDA reported China bought 768,000 MT of U.S. corn, its largest weekly purchase since October 2011.

Source: USDA FAS Export Sales data as of July 9, 2020

It is interesting to note that Gulf SRW FOB prices for August delivery are currently more than all HRW prices from the Texas Gulf. As of July 17, USW reported that HRW ordinary FOB for August delivery was $216/MT and HRW 11 percent protein (on a 12 percent moisture basis) was $220/MT compared to $239/MT for SRW.

Photo above: A grain barge headed downstream on the Mississippi River.

 

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Dependable People: A Spotlight on the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee

For 40 years, U.S. wheat farmers have supported U.S. Wheat Associates’ (USW) efforts to work directly with buyers and promote their six classes of wheat. Their contributions to state wheat commissions, who in turn contribute a portion of those funds to USW, qualifies USW to apply for export market development funds managed by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Currently, 17 state wheat commissions are USW members and this series highlights those partnerships and the work being done state-by-state to provide unmatched service. Behind the world’s most reliable supply of wheat are the world’s most dependable people – and that includes our state wheat commissions.

Member: Montana Wheat and Barley Committee
Member of USW since 1980

Location: Great Falls, Mont.
Classes of wheat grown: Hard Red Winter (HRW), Hard Red Spring (HRS), Durum
USW Leadership:  James E. Jenks, 1984/85 Chairman; Richard Sampsen, 1995/96 Chairman; Leonard Schock, 2006/07 Chairman; Janice Mattson, 2009/10 Chairperson; Chris Kolstad, 2018/19 Chairman.

The mission of the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee (MWBC) is to protect and foster the health and prosperity of the Montana wheat and barley industry by encouraging scientific research to improve production and quality; maintaining current markets; promoting new market development; and serving as an educational and informational resource.

2018/19 Chairman Chris Kolstad from Montana (R) passes the gavel to 2019/20 Chairman Doug Goyings from Ohio.

Why is export market development important to Montana wheat farmers and why do they continue to support USW and its activities?

Montana exports most of its wheat to partners around the world. Wheat production in the state is logistically advantaged to efficiently fill shuttle trains with hard red spring (HRS) and hard red winter (HRW) bound for the Pacific Northwest (PNW) ports. Montana’s wheat is often considered as improver classes because it offers strong functional characteristics. The extreme summer heat and extreme winter cold together are conducive to growing excellent small grains with high protein. Montana wheat is desired by quality-conscious customers, making the Pacific Rim our largest market. Market development efforts are very important to Montana farmers and USW plays a key role in identifying potential markets and maintaining existing markets. Our farmers have invested in these efforts since 1967 when our committee was formed, and our very low checkoff refund rate shows Montana farmers understand the value of these efforts.

Montana wheat farmer and USW Director Denise Conover traveled with USW to Tanzania and Kenya in November 2019 to learn more about food aid programs and wheat monetization. Read more.

How have Montana wheat farmers recently connected with overseas customers?

MWBC hosts upwards of 100 overseas trade team visitors each year. Our farmers love hosting trade delegations and are quick to open their homes to our guests. Showcasing a way of life that often spans many generations is a great point of pride for Montana farmers, and discussions on best practices and planting decisions often lead to 3-hour dinners and forming long-term connections. Montana farmers view our overseas customers as an extended family.

Current circumstances are transforming the way we reach customers, including taking part in weekly updates and virtual meetings hosted by USW. MWBC is being proactive in our efforts as the uncertainty associated with the pandemic has brought challenges. However, our farmers are not slowing down. They are working their hardest to continue to supply the market with the highest quality wheat in the world.

A USW 2019 trade delegation from Japan visiting a farm in Montana.

What is happening lately in Montana that overseas customers should know about?

  • We are developing a video series that creates a virtual trade delegation experience and focuses on what a visitor would learn and experience if they were visiting Montana in person. The series will tour the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) certified State Grain Lab with a look at the grading process and factors that set Montana wheat apart, and feature a farm tour to present crop rotation, precision agriculture and other sustainable practices.
  • Montana State University (MSU) has done an excellent job keeping research projects moving forward during the pandemic and is hiring a new endowed chair and HRS wheat breeder. Montana farmers invest over $2 million every year in wheat and barley research.
  • MSU wheat breeding programs continue to focus on quality, traits like low PPO and increased stability and developing durum varieties.

Montana farmers would like to thank USW for their continued efforts in developing and maintaining overseas markets. Without these efforts a lot of us would not be able to do what we love out in “Big Sky Country.” Many Montana farmers have hosted overseas visitors traveling with USW and have made lifelong friendships and memories because of it. Those experiences have outlasted cultural, political and historical differences over the last 50+ years for MWBC.

Learn more about the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee on its website here and on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

 

A trade delegation of Japanese executive millers visited 2018/19 USW Chairman and Montana wheat farmer Chris Kolstad on his farm in 2019.

Janice Mattson, a wheat farmer from Montana, was USW’s first female chair in 2009/10. She was also featured in a 4-part series about the U.S. wheat supply chain system in 2014. View that series here.

 

Al Klempel (L), a wheat farmer from Montana, traveled with USW to Spain, Portugal and Morocco on a board team trip in 2019. The team is pictured here with equipment sponsored by U.S. Wheat Associates at the IFIM milling school in Casablanca. Read more.

Leonard Schock, 2006/07 USW Chairman and a Montana wheat farmer presented at the 2016 North Asia Marketing Conference in Guam.

 

2018/19 USW Chairman Chris Kolstad, a wheat farmer from Montana, and NAWG President, Ben Scholz, a wheat farmer from Texas, represented the U.S. wheat industry at the 2017 National Association of Farm Broadcasting Trade Talk event.

 

 

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State Organizations to Host Virtual HRS/DNS Pre-Harvest Update July 28

As harvest time approaches for the 2020 U.S. hard red spring (HRS/DNS) wheat crop, domestic and international customers are anxious to get the latest crop information.  With many in-person meetings and events put on hold this year, including the Wheat Quality Council’s Annual Spring Wheat Tour, many of our friends and customers will miss the opportunity to see the crop’s potential first-hand.

But as everyone has done in this new COVID-19 world, the North Dakota Wheat Commission (NDWC) and the North Dakota Grain Growers Association (NDGGA) are bringing the crop to stakeholders by hosting a virtual HRS/DNS update on Tuesday, July 28, at 9:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time. The meeting will be hosted on the Zoom application. To register, visit https://ndwheat.com/events/2020VirtualHardRedSpringWheatPreHarvestUpdate/.

With Wheat Quality Council Tours like this one from North Dakota in 2016 cancelled, North Dakota wheat grower groups are hosting a virtual HRS/DNS pre-harvest update July 28.

Representatives from NDWC, NDGGA, farmers and wheat commissioners from Minnesota, Montana and and South Dakota will report on crop conditions, production and quality potential and other important issues that have affected this HRS/DNS crop. Extension experts will provide agronomic and disease updates, and producers will provide video and personal observations of crop conditions and maturity levels throughout the spring wheat region.

Here is the updated agenda:

Welcome

  • NDWC and NDGGA

Wheat Quality Council Update

  • Dave Green, Wheat Quality Council

Spring Wheat Overview

  • NDWC

North Dakota Update

  • Joel Ransom, North Dakota State University (NDSU) Extension
  • Andrew Green, NDSU Spring Wheat Breeder
  • Field Reports from ND Producers

Montana Update

  • Cassidy Marn, Montana Wheat & Barley Committee
  • Field Reports from Montana producers

South Dakota Update

  • Reid Christopherson, South Dakota Wheat Commission
  • Field Reports from South Dakota producers

Minnesota Update

  • Charlie Vogel, Minnesota Wheat Research and Promotion Council
  • Jim Anderson, University of Minnesota
  • Jochum Wiersma, University of Minnesota
  • Field Reports from Minnesota producers

2020 Disease Outlook

  • Andrew Friskop, NDSU Extension

Wrap up and Questions

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Wheat Industry News

Recent news and highlights from around the wheat industry. 

Speaking of Wheat: “A completed USMCA finally gets us past the uncertainty and that is welcome news to U.S. wheat growers. Especially as we now see an opportunity for U.S. negotiators to take this as a gold standard agreement and launch negotiations with other countries, where U.S. wheat growers face tariff and non-tariff barriers.” – Doug Goyings, U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) Chairman and a wheat farmer from Paulding, Ohio.

Hybrid Wheat Grant to University of Nebraska-Lincoln Researcher. P. Stephen Baenziger, professor and Wheat Growers Presidential Chair in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, received a three-year grant from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture program to develop distinct germplasm pools to support the development of hybrid wheat. Read more.

USMCA Enters into Force. On July 1, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement officially replaced NAFTA. USW welcomes the agreement as crucial to maintaining the free flow of wheat from the United States to our Mexican customers and help farmers who may wish to trade across the Canadian border. Read more. 

Wheat Foods Council Publishes Educational Video Content. The Wheat Foods Council focuses on developing educational and promotional nutrition resources on wheat food products that reach health and nutrition professionals, opinion leaders, media and consumers. Recently the Council has added several new videos to its available resources. View these videos on its YouTube here and additional content on its website here.

2020 National Wheat Yield Contest. On February 18, 2020, the National Wheat Foundation officially opened the 2020 National Wheat Yield Contest! The Contest is divided into two primary competition categories: winter wheat and spring wheat, and two subcategories: dryland and irrigated. The Foundation is currently accepting entries for the Spring Wheat category. The deadline to submit it August 1.

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 Facebook page at 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 more on LinkedIn.

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U.S. Wheat Supply Chain System: Exporters, Inspectors and USW Overseas Offices

By Michael Anderson, USW Assistant Director, USW West Coast Office

At the core of the U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) mission is a strong commitment to enhance the value of U.S. wheat for farmers and their customers. A large part U.S. wheat’s value-added differential advantage is the U.S. wheat supply chain system. It is system that ultimately works for wheat food consumers around the world. But it is also complex and therefore most effective when farmers, end users and everyone in between have a better understanding of how it works for them.

Once the wheat has arrived at the port by truck, rail or barge, grain exporters work around the clock to meet customer contract requirements. Through the futures market and a network of facilities up country, exporters are able to bring the right wheat to the export facility for blending, inspection and loading while managing their own price risks. This diverse network allows exporters to meet diverse and varied cargo requirements. USW helps exporters meet diverse and varied cargo requirements by connecting them and facilitating communications with customers worldwide.

 

As the wheat is loaded from the export facility to vessels, the law requires inspection by the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) to certify that the wheat loaded for export meets the quality standards specified in the customer’s contract. Created in 1976 by the U.S. Congress, FGIS is responsible for establishing and upholding standards for quality assessments and managing the grain inspection and grading procedures. FGIS also maintains equipment standards and manages the network of federal, state and private laboratories that provide impartial inspection and weighing services. The United States is the only wheat exporter with an independent, neutral grain inspection system, which is valued by its overseas customers and has helped wheat and other U.S. commodities grow export markets.

The Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS), as an objective third party, certifies that all exported wheat meets import specifications.

For end users of imported wheat, understanding what you need is key to producing what you want, which is why USW’s network of 15 offices across the world, including two in the continental United States, is the final step in the U.S. supply chain. Each office works closely with customers, including buyers, millers, bakers, food processors and government officials, to promote the advantages of U.S. wheat quality, help troubleshoot issues and simplify the process of importing and utilizing U.S. wheat.

Peter Lloyd, Regional Technical Director, based in the USW Casablanca Office, notes that the cheapest improver for wheat flour is buying the right wheat in the first place. He knows that making a high quality, desired end product is what the customer wants and getting there starts with the right wheat and understanding how best to use it. USW technical experts work closely with customers to share technical information on U.S. wheat characteristics, address issues related to wheat functionality and help customers make better end products with U.S. wheat.

USW Regional Technical Director Peter Lloyd visits Mennel Milling, Fostoria, Ohio, Feb. 2016. Read more about Peter’s work here.

 

USW Milling & Baking Technologist Tarik Gahi touring the Bakhresa Mill in Zanzibar, Tanzania in 2019 and answering one of the chief miller’s questions about flour extraction and bran. Read more about Tarik’s work here.

 

USW Food/Bakery Technologist David Oh in the laboratory at the Korean Baking School testing formulations of testing blends of HRW and SW flour for Korean-style baguettes and HRS and HRW flour for sweet buns in 2017. Read more about David’s work here.

USW representatives also raise the profile of wheat and note that only the United States offers six distinctly different wheat classes. Joe Sowers, Regional Vice President for the Philippines and Korea, notes that USW’s “philosophy for relating to industry participants is to put ourselves in their position and try to understand what they need to succeed. Then we maximize the number of positive contacts such as providing information, training or other resources to a customer. If everybody on the team is striving to make the most positive contacts possible, good sales follow. Good sales leads to better prices for our farmer stakeholders.”

USW has taken a global approach to increasing the profile of U.S. wheat. Alongside each stakeholder in the U.S. wheat supply chain, we too, take seriously our commitment to providing education, access, reliability and guidance in accessing the world’s most reliable wheat supply. It is through the commitment of dependable people, that we breed, grow, transport, inspect, export and promote the wheat the world needs.

Read other blog posts in this series:
Research and Breeding
Farmers and State Wheat Commissions
Grain Handlers

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Stories from the Wheat Farm – Loving the Work in Ohio

U.S. wheat farm families grow six distinct classes of wheat across the diverse landscape of the United States. Those farmers take great care in producing the highest quality wheat in the most sustainable ways possible to honor their family legacies and to ensure greater value for their customers at home and abroad. Behind the world’s most reliable supply of wheat are the world’s most dependable people.

Goyings Farms: The Goyings family has been “working hard and going strong” on their wheat farm in northwestern Ohio since 1884. Today, Doug Goyings, his wife Diane and their son Jeremy strive to be leaders in innovative farming practices that incorporate precision and conservation. They were one of the first farms in the area to successfully implement no-till practices and GPS-based systems that protect their soil, reduce fuel use and increase crop production efficiency.

With remarkable self-sufficiently, Doug and Jeremy designed and built their high-volume grain storage system (only to re-build it after it was severely damaged by a tornado) and built their own equipment to offer custom field drainage services to other farmers. They know that such challenging work and long days are made slightly easier when it is work that you love, surrounded by the people that you love, including the next generation on Goyings Farms – the twin boys Axel and Garrett of Jeremy and his wife Jessica.

Location: Paulding, Ohio
Classes of Wheat Grown:  Soft Red Winter (SRW)
Leadership: Doug Goyings: 2019/20 Chairman, U.S. Wheat Associates (USW); USW Director, representing Ohio Small Grains Marketing Program (OSGMP), since 2009; Past-Chairman, USW Long-Range Planning Committee; Past Director, OSGMP; Member and Past-President, Paulding County, Ohio Farm Bureau Federation; Director, Ohio Veal Growers Inc.; Director, Creston Veal, Inc.; Director, Paulding Landmark, Inc.

View other videos and stories in this “Stories from the Wheat Farm” series:

The Next Generation in Kansas
Committed to Stewardship in Washington
Living with Purpose in North Dakota
A Passion for the Land in Oklahoma
Committed to Wheat Quality in Oregon
Embracing the Agricultural Lifestyle in Montana

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A Legacy of Commitment – The U.S. Wheat Export Public-Private Partnership Today

By Steve Mercer, USW Vice President of Communications

Wheat farmers in post-World War II United States were producing more wheat than ever before. So, to improve marketing opportunities, they organized and reached out to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for help. These visionary state wheat leaders ultimately formed two regional organizations to coordinate export market development: Western Wheat Associates and Great Plains Wheat Market Development Association.

In the fourth of a series on the “Legacy of Commitment,” Wheat Letter describes the highly successful public-private partnership supporting U.S. wheat export market development that has endured since the 1950s.

“The proper role of government…is that of partner with the farmer – never his master. By every possible means we must develop and promote that partnership – to the end that agriculture may continue to be a sound, enduring foundation for our economy and that farm living may be a profitable and satisfying experience.” – President Dwight D. Eisenhower, from a message to Congress on agriculture, Jan. 9, 1956.

On March 27, Wheat Letter offered historical perspective on how changes in federal programs, global market factors and relationships drew Western Wheat Associates and Great Plains Wheat ever closer together and led to the establishment of U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) as a single export market development organization to serve all U.S. wheat farmers.

A formal agreement between the Nebraska Wheat Commission and USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) to co-fund and implement export market development activities in 1958 marked the beginning of an enduring partnership between farmers, state wheat commissions, FAS and USW after the merger in 1980.

“I consider this to be one of the most successful partnerships between a U.S. government agency and private industry,” said USW President Vince Peterson. “Each partner brings unique core capabilities that support the export development mission. Our activities are jointly planned, funded and evaluated. We all share the risks, responsibilities and results.”

It Starts with the Farmer

State wheat commissions exist under state law generally to conduct promotion and market development through research, education and information. Commissions are funded by assessments paid by the farmer either by bushel or by a portion of the price at the time of sale. This is called a “checkoff” and though it is voluntary, a strong majority of farmers contribute their assessment. Farmer commissioners, either elected by their peers or appointed by their state’s governor, direct how the checkoff funds are to be used, such as for domestic promotion, public crop production research and variety development and export market development.

Ralph Bean, Agricultural Counselor, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. Embassy Manila (far right), met with farmers from South Dakota, North Dakota and Montana during their trip to South Asia as a part of the 2017 USW Board team. The farmers were guests of honor at the 9th International Exhibition on Bakery, Confectionary and Foodservice Equipment and Supplies, known as “Bakery Fair 2017,” hosted by the Filipino-Chinese Bakery Association Inc.

By agreeing to contribute a portion of checkoff funds to USW for export market development, state wheat commissions choose to become members of USW. The annual USW membership assessment is about one-third of one cent per bushel, multiplied by the average production in the state over the past five years. Currently 17 state wheat commissions are USW members. In 2020, Wheat Letter is profiling each state commission member.

The contributions from state wheat commissions, including special project funds as well as the personal time and talent invested by farmers and U.S. wheat supply chain participants, supports the USW mission to develop, maintain and expand international markets to enhance wheat’s profitability for U.S. wheat producers and its value for their customers. In addition, state commission contributions qualify USW to apply for federal export market development funds administered by FAS.

Linking U.S. Agriculture to the World

USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service has primary responsibility for overseas programs including market development, international trade agreements and negotiations, and the collection of statistics and market information. It also administers the USDA’s export credit guarantee and food aid programs and helps increase income and food availability in developing nations by mobilizing expertise for agriculturally led economic growth. The FAS mission is to link U.S. agriculture to the world to enhance export opportunities and global food security.

Jim Higgiston (left), USDA/FAS Minister Counselor for Agricultural Affairs, met with Regional Director Chad Weigand (right) and farmer members of a USW Board Team in September 2018 in the capital city of Pretoria, South Africa. The FAS team in Pretoria included Kyle Bonsu, Agricultural Attache, Laura Geller, Senior Agricultural Attache, and Dirk Esterhuizen, Senior Agricultural Specialist.

FAS export market development programs available to USW as a cooperating organization include the Market Access Program (MAP), the Foreign Market Development (FMD) program, the Agricultural Trade Promotion program and the Quality Samples Program. USW is required to conduct an extensive, annual strategic planning process that carefully examines every market, identifying opportunities for export growth and recognizing trends or policies that could threaten existing or prospective markets. FAS reviews this annual plan, the Unified Export Strategy (UES), results from previous years and private commitments to determine how USW will invest program funds. In 2019/20, federal funding provided $2.60 for every $1.00 contributed by farmers through their state wheat commissions.

“It is important that [overseas] buyers and government officials develop direct personal relationships not only with us at USDA but also directly with American farmers and ranchers,” said USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney in testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry in June 2019.

Jeffery Albanese (pictured back row with hat), Agricultural Attache, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. Embassy Manila, joined the 2017 USW Board Team, with farmers from South Dakota, North Dakota and Montana, and USW staff,  for a tour of San Miguel Mill, Inc. in the Philippines.

USDA in general and FAS specifically foster such relationships by acting as strategic partners with USW through the extensive FAS network of foreign service officers serving in 98 offices around the world and its civil service support in the United States. The foreign service officers provide vital liaison with government officials and are active in market development work. The civil service likewise plays a critical role in everything from supporting the foreign service, managing the relationships with organizations like USW, providing market information, analyzing trade policy barriers, and much more.

FAS programs make it possible for wheat farmers to have representatives from USW who work directly with overseas wheat buyers, flour millers and wheat food processors and translate customer needs directly back to the state wheat organizations, who are in turn helping direct research for wheat crop development in their states. This leads to improved varieties and helps farmers manage their crops with the end user in mind, who would otherwise be thousands of miles and multiple steps apart in the supply chain.

A team of U.S. wheat farmers from Kansas, Oklahoma and Arizona bound for trade visits to customers in Nigeria and South Africa met in September 2016 with Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney (center) and other FAS staff in Washington, D.C. 

Read other stories in this series:

Western Wheat Associates Develops Asian Markets
Great Plains Wheat Focused on Improving Quality and HRW Markets
Evolution of a Public-Private Partnership
NAWG, USW Lead the Way Through Issues Affecting Wheat Farmers

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