Wheat Industry News

News and Information from Around the Wheat Industry

Speaking of Wheat

“The abrupt termination of the implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative is a matter of grave concern. Global food security should not become a casualty of war. People in poor countries struggling with food and energy price inflation stand to be hit hardest by the termination of the initiative: Prices for future delivery of wheat and corn are already rising. Therefore, I urge all parties to make every effort to come back to the negotiating table.” — World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, from an Inside U.S. Trade article. Read more here.

Club Wheat Outlook

Matthew Weaver with Capital Press interviewed Washington Grain Commission Executive Director Casey Chumrau about the 2023 club wheat crop and the outlook for 2014. The region’s wheat industry anticipates lower yields overall this year compared to last. Outlook for club production is unclear at this point, Chumrau said. “A lot of the planted area for club is in regions in Washington where it still is looking promising for production,” she said. “The club acres seem to be in some of those areas with better prospects.” Read more here.

Prepare for Global Drought

In a World-Grain.com article, World Weather, Inc., agricultural meteorologist Drew Lerner writes about the risk of future global drought and the need to prepare for a serious food shortage. “A series of serious droughts occurred in 2007-08 that resulted in reduced food supply in portions of North America, eastern Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and parts of South America,” he wrote. “Most of the droughts at that time did not impact each of the listed regions of the world at the same time, but enough production cut occurred to lead to the first modern day grain and oilseed supply shortage. The world muddled its way through that event mostly unscathed, but what about the future? Will we be lucky enough to get along with limited food stocks?” Read more here.

Honored Wheat Breeder

Sunish Sehgal, associate professor and South Dakota State University (SDSU) winter wheat breeder, was honored by the Wheat Quality Council with the 2023 Millers Choice Best of Show Award for the second consecutive year. The honor annually recognizes the wheat breeder of the variety that is most well-liked by U.S. millers participating in the WQC’s evaluation program. The main goal of the SDSU hard winter wheat breeding group is to develop high-yielding wheat varieties with resilience to biotic and abiotic stress and provide end-use quality for the milling and baking industry. “At SDSU, we lay as much emphasis on wheat quality as on yield,” Sehgal said. Read the full story here.

Grain Sciences Event Calendar

Dr. M. Hikmet Boyacioglu, Applications Development Specialist with KPM, shares a monthly “Cereal & Grain Sciences Events Calendar. The August calendar is now online. See it and upcoming monthly calendars at https://lp.kpmanalytics.com/en-us/cerealgrain-science-event-calendar.

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