Video: The Story of the Reliable System that Transports Wheat from the U.S. Plains to Customers Around the World
Kent Lorens and Derek Sawyer each consider themselves to be “mere links in the reliable wheat supply chain.”
But without farmers like them, there is no chain.
Thus, the two play major roles in a new U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) video project that tells the story of how a reliable system of trucks, trains and ships moves U.S. wheat from farm field to grain
Kent Lorens and his sons take a break from the 2024 wheat harvest in Stratton Nebraska.
elevator to shipping port and finally on to customers around the world.
The video focuses on wheat grown in Plains states for export out of the Texas Gulf. It includes footage and interviews with a major customer of U.S. wheat. A key figure at an export facility in Houston, Texas is also highlighted.
“When we receive an order from an overseas buyer, we are able to leverage the large supply chain network that we have access to. This ensures we can reach out across the country and get the exact specs and quality factors that the customer requested,” Sean Ryan, Plant Superintendent at the TEMCO port facility, says in the video. TEMCO is a partnership in the Houston port between exporters Cargill and CHS.
As two ships are loaded with U.S. wheat in the background, Ryan credits a key link in the reliable supply chain: U.S. wheat farmers.
Energy and Care on the Farm
“They’re dedicating their time and energy to the fields and to the crop that they’re growing,” Ryan says. “Overall, the level of care, efficiency and effectiveness of our wheat supply chain is unmatched. It is unmatched because the dependable people responsible for each step in this process are all committed to excellence. They are committed to ensuring U.S. wheat remains the top choice for more than 100 countries worldwide.”
Derek and Katie Sawyer stand in one of the family’s wheat fields in McPherson, Kansas.
Scenes from Sawyer’s Kansas farm were shot last spring. His family’s wheat fields were just heading. In late summer, the video crew set cameras up on the Lorens family farm in Nebraska. The goal was to capture the wheat harvest. Both farmers discuss the care they take to sustainably grow high-quality wheat. They also explain how they value their customers, as well as the supply chain that delivers their wheat.
Sawyer has had the privilege of meeting customers of U.S. wheat from international markets. He notes how he enjoys sharing insight and information about this farm in McPherson, Kansas.
“We have really turned our efforts more from a quantity of production of wheat to a quality,” he explains in the video. “We’re looking down the supply chain, for wheat varieties that will match what our customers want. And we realize that the milling aspects of the wheat are just as important as the amount of wheat that they’re getting.”
Robust Elevator Network
Lorens pointed out the importance of local grain elevators and the process of maintaining the quality of U.S. wheat in this reliable system.
“What makes U.S. wheat so dependable is our robust network of local elevators,” said Lorens, who farms in Stratton, Nebraska. “I’m proud to be part of that. As a farmer, I appreciate that we can produce a very high-quality product that can be readily and easily shipped across the world.”
Guillermo Gomez, Vice Chairman at Grupo Timex in Mexico City, provides the broad perspective of a U.S. wheat customer in this story. He talks about the importance of wheat to his business, his appreciation for wheat farmers and the deserved attention to sustainable practices.
“We are proud to be a milling company that reaches the table of many Mexican families with our flour through a wide range of customers, from multinational companies to “mom and pop” bakeries,” Gomez says in the video. “Wheat is key to our business. It is our most important raw material from which all our products are made. It’s very important to understand and visit our with suppliers to get a firsthand understanding of their agricultural process.”
Links in the Supply Chain
Along with showing how wheat moves down the Plains to port, the video also highlights the volume of wheat trading. Ryan notes that the average shuttle train unloaded at the TEMCO facility has approximately 115 cars holding roughly 435,000 bushels. The average semi-truck carries about 1,200 bushels.
“This ship behind me that we’re loading today is going to take about 1.9 million bushels, which will be upwards of 44,000 wheat acres grown in the United States,” Ryan adds.
As a U.S. wheat farmer, Lorens was inspired by those numbers and calculations.
“We farmers don’t regularly get a chance to actually see where our wheat ends up, or what happens to it after we deliver it to the local elevator,” he said. “This video project will help show us the whole supply chain, of which we are a mere link.”
