Milling & Baking News - March 8, 2022 - 30

SOSLAND PUBLISHING CO.
SOSLAND PUBLISHING
years
TUES | 03 08 2022
help the magazine move beyond regional
aspects. Hard red winter wheat flour, they
said, needed national champions. Ownership
of flour mills had long since crossed
regional lines, making the Southwestern
designation obsolete.
" (T)he individual, the company and
also the industry that does not prepare,
yes initiate change, is in effect moving
backward, " observed Morton Sosland, the
unnamed editorial writer.
The editorial continued: " To all intents
and purposes, though, the adoption of Milling
& Baking News is the capstone of many
changes that gradually have been made in
this magazine over the past five years or so,
all with the intent of better serving breadstuffs
managers. These editorial changes
- new departments and features, expansion
and farm supports in the 1990s, this issue
receded in importance. To be sure, government
regulatory involvement remains a
major concern, but not as much with regard
to the price of agricultural commodities.
" The point is that we have a staff ready
and able to adapt the news to the most
pressing needs of our readership. Today
that's tight labor markets and shifting
attitudes toward nutrition. We'll be ready
for whatever comes tomorrow. "
The company used the 50th anniversary
to expand Milling & Baking News' coverage,
said Neil Sosland.
" That's when the story became one
of audience expansion, " he said. " And
we wanted to expand to areas in which
we could work. We experimented with
various concepts during my father's and
pending purchase of US grains by the
USSR; however, the caller revealed an
amazing story. The Soviet Union's grain
importing agency, Exportkleb, was
buying an astonishing 5 million tonnes
each of US wheat, corn and barley in a
secretive deal.
The Soviet Union, usually an international
power in grain production and exporting,
wanted to conceal the past two years of massive
crop failures in the country's collective
farming sector. So, it negotiated the deal
to hide the amounts and types of grains it
planned to purchase and the names of those
US exporters selling the grains.
Nearly a month of phone calls ensued
before the editors decided to report the
news on Aug. 4, 1972.
Secret until that moment, the Milling &
Baking News report revealed what came
to be known as the Russian Wheat Deal. It
shook the American grain market, fueled
extraordinary food inflation and rattled
the US and global economy. The small
one-title, Midwestern publishing company
scooped even the big newspapers
and financial journals based at New York,
Washington and London.
The Russian Wheat Deal report raised
Morton I. Sosland discussing the Russian Wheat Deal on the 1974 television program
" Firing Line " hosted by William F. Buckley Jr.
of headquarters staff and adding correspondents
and new graphics inside and on the
cover - all have aimed at making the 'News'
in the name a meaningful description. ...
The magazine is basic reading for breadstuffs
managers. The new name is suited
for the exciting time ahead. "
He cited the potential " in such areas as
nutrition, new products, new marketing
techniques and scientific advances that
communication takes on new meaning. "
Thus did the Sosland editors affirm a
flexible approach to covering the changing
issues that the industry faces.
" For the first 70 years, government
meddling in agricultural production was
as important a topic as any covered by
our publication, " Josh Sosland explained.
" With the decoupling of grain production
30 MILLING & BAKING NEWS
uncles' time. Now, it was up to Morton's and
my generation to execute on these ideas. "
Neil Sosland advised, further " The
most important thing that continues to
determine our future is our ability to
change. You can't settle into any one structure.
That's what journalism today faces. "
On the 50th anniversary of the magazine,
Sam Sosland recalled, " Our aim was
to be a practical publication, moved by
realism and idealism. "
A SHOCKING SCOOP
Indeed, things were about to heat up.
On July 17, 1972, Morton Sosland took
an overseas phone call from a London
source who allowed himself to be named
only as " John Smith. " He said he was
only trying to confirm details about the
the stature of Milling & Baking News
throughout the business-to-business publishing
world. It also confirmed Morton
Sosland's place among the elite in geopolitical
and financial circles.
Although Morton Sosland never
learned the real identity of " Mr. Smith, "
he speculated his informant was likely
Russian, but London's Financial Times
claimed he was an East German. The
source always placed his calls to Kansas
City from different European locations,
and editors were never able to pry a
return phone number out of him. After
his Aug. 10 phone call, Morton Sosland
never heard from him again.
" Morton's reporting on the Russian deal
really put us on the map, " Neil Sosland said.
" A year or two later, the Wall Street Journal
article about this matter brought our company
into the international spotlight. "
STARTING NEW VENTURES
As earth shaking as the Russian reporting
was, the milling and baking industries
bakingbusiness.com
http://www.bakingbusiness.com
Milling & Baking News - March 8, 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Milling & Baking News - March 8, 2022
