Milling & Baking News - July 8, 2014 - 4

Contents 

July 8, 2014 Vol. 93, No. 10

 NEWS FEATURE

 NEWS Comment

Story on Page 1

No trend reversal
in wheat area
expansion

G.M.O. debate
escalates as crop
area increases

9

S.T.B. orders rail carriers to
resolve transport woes

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board tells two
railroads they must show how they plan to
resolve a backlog of grain car orders.

12
Americans seek
'snackable' indulgences,
says Mintel
Story on Page 15

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DEPARTMENTS
7
9
14
15
16
18
26
29
31
41
46

Editorial
Business
Financial Results
Merchandising
People
Data
Industry Activities
Washington
Ingredient Week Trends
Supplier Innovations
Archive

Organic, natural snack food
maker files for Chapter 11

Prime Choice Foods retains Heritage Equity
Partners to seek a buyer, partner or investor for
the family-owned business and its two plants.

14

Ardent's impact on ConAgra:
Large gain, drag on profits

ConAgra Foods, Inc. expects a gain from the
transaction, but fiscal 2015 earnings from the
joint venture may be lower than ConAgra Mills'
profits in fiscal 2014.

18

Wheat carryover may
be smallest since 2008

The estimated 2014 wheat carryover at
589,722,000 bus would be 18% smaller than
the 2013 carryover, according to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.

29

A.B.A. opposes proposed listing
of added sugars

Lee Sanders of the American Bakers Association
also expresses concerns with a proposed fiber
definition in a Food and Drug Administration
meeting.

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COMPANIES IN THIS ISSUE

Viewed most myopically, acreage data issued
June 30 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
could be interpreted by the wheat-based foods
industry as encouraging. After all, the estimate
for 2014 crop wheat plantings at 56,474,000
acres was up from the March Prospective
Plantings report and would mark the third
consecutive year in which total wheat acreage
was up from the season before.
Still, taking even the smallest of steps
back suggests no letup in the long-term
trend away from wheat planting in the
United States. The 2014 acreage figure is
smaller than any year between 1973 and
2010. Halfway through, U.S. wheat acreage
in the current decade has averaged 55.4
million acres, 4 million acres, or 6%, fewer
than in the first decade of this century
(59.3-million-acre average), 20% fewer
than in the 1990s (69 million average) and
27% fewer than in the 1980s (76.3 million).
Wheat acreage in 2014 is estimated down
36% from the all-time high of 88.3 million
acres in 1981.
The data all underscore the importance
of efforts by the collective "wheat chain"
industry groups to continue to explore ways
to enhance the competitiveness of wheat
as a crop choice, reversing the long-term
downward acreage trend. The bountiful
availability of wheat with its great diversity
of end use qualities has been an invaluable
resource in the United States, making
possible the variety and quality of grainbased foods that is the envy of the world.
Preserving that source of industry vitality is
crucial. MBN

Archer Daniels Midland Co. .... 1, 41

CHS, Inc. ........................ 12, 14, 16

Hostess Brands, L.L.C.......... 8, 9, 15

Shearer's Foods, L.L.C. .................. 9

Ardent Mills ......................... 12, 14

Cinnaholic.................................. 12

McKee Foods Corp...................... 15

Snyder's-Lance, Inc. ...................... 9

Burlington Northern

ConAgra Foods, Inc......... 11, 12, 14

PLT Health Solutions, Inc. ............ 41

Sweet Green Fields, L.L.C............ 41

Santa Fe Railway ....................... 9

Flowers Foods, Inc. ..................... 15

Prime Choice Foods, Inc. ............. 12

Wild Flavors ................................. 1

Canadian Pacific Railroad ............. 9

General Mills, Inc........................ 10

Quiznos ....................................... 8

Cargill ............................ 12, 14, 41

Horizon Science .......................... 41

Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. ................. 11

4 / July 8, 2014 Milling & Baking News

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Milling & Baking News - July 8, 2014

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