Meeting Export and Domestic Market Demand
Variety Information
The hallmark of a quality wheat is the ability to mill well and produce excellent breads, cookies, cakes, noodles and a wealth of other end use products. Over the years, quality has become a mainstay of newly released varieties. Public and private wheat breeders know the importance of maintaining and improving quality attributes, along with agronomic traits.
Each year new varieties are released. Which one is best for you? Geography plays a major role in defining market destinations and desired quality attributes.
For the latest information on locally adapted wheat varieties see the following websites.
University of Idaho – College of Agriculture
http://www.extension.uidaho.edu/cereals
Washington State University; Cereal Variety Testing Program
http://www.variety.wsu.edu
USDA Western Wheat Quality Lab, Pullman, WA.
http://www.wsu.edu/~wwql Variety Quality Scores
WestBred (Monsanto)
http://www.westbred.com/northwest.html.
Syngenta (AgriPro)
http://www.agriprowheat.com/region/pacific-northwest
Additional Quality Information:
Yearly crop quality reports, including the US Wheat Associates Export Cargo Survey and the Soft White Wheat Marketing Report, can be found at US Wheat Associates: http://www.uswheat.org/reports/cropquality.
A Case in Point: HRW
Several years ago four vessels of wheat sent to Japan contained several varieties of HRW with poor quality attributes. Following complaints from Japanese customers, testing found that the HRW wheat was of such poor quality that it resulted in the erosion of customer goodwill toward PNW wheat.
Japan is the largest importer of PNW wheat. It took awhile to undo the harm created by sending the poor quality wheats.
The photo shows that the poorer quality HRW wheat shipped produced a loaf of bread that was approximately 30% smaller than normal.
Variety Matters!
