World Grain - October 2020 - 52

FEATURE: NEW ERA IN WHEAT QUALITY?

We're getting more and more
farmers calling us direct wanting
to be part of our program,
which is pretty awesome.

crop." A rail carrier preference to
ship as much of the crop as possible
to the Gulf for export makes it even
PRUHGL൶FXOWIRUPLOOHUVDQGEDNHUV
to pick and choose when it comes to
wheat procurement.
When the Grain Craft team began
to explore launching the preferredvariety program, Koenig; McLean; Alan Koenig, chief supply chain officer, Grain Craft
E.G. Herl, vice president of grain
and logistics at Grain Craft; and
a prominent baking executive spent an afternoon LONG-TERM GOALS
in 2014 with the Kansas Wheat Commission in Longer term, the company would like to supply its
Manhattan, discussing how enhanced wheat quality hard winter mills all over the country with preferred
would eliminate the need for mills grinding hard red varieties.
winter wheats to include the more expensive spring
"We're the largest miller in the state of Kansas now
wheat in their milling blends.
with the Cereal (Food Processors, Inc.) acquisition, and
Koenig said, "We have this nice long 2½-, 3-hour we take our role very seriously," he said. "And we have
meeting, and when we walked out they said, 'Thank mills in California, Alabama, Georgia and a little bit
you for coming. It's refreshing to have an into Ogden that use Kansas wheat."
end user spend this much time with us
He said the company hopes that 50% of the hard wintalking about our wheat quality re- ter wheat milled by Grain Craft will be segregated presearch. This kind of feedback IHUUHG YDULHWLHV ZLWKLQ ¿YH \HDUV$GGLWLRQDOO\ *UDLQ
is essential.'"
Craft believes the program will expand throughout the
Grain Craft began working milling industry.
with breeders throughout the
"We're in this not just for us and our customers," he
Southwest to test varieties said. "We think this is the right thing to do for the inand introduced a preferred dustry to get all the quality up - not just domestic use
variety list in 2014.
but for export use."
To participate in the program, growers must bring
Momentum for the program was slow to develop, UHFHLSWVWRWKHZKHDWEX\HUGHPRQVWUDWLQJWKDWFHUWL¿HG
Koenig said. Participation in seed of the preferred varieties was purchased.
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the program grew dramatically in 2016, when Grain Craft and kept it segregated all the way from the farm to our
began advertising the initiative mill in order to receive that premium," Koenig said.
Six of the top 10 varieties grown in Kansas in 2020
and paying a premium for the preare on the Grain Craft list, up from 3 in 2014.
ferred varieties.
Those six varieties account for 23.9% of all wheat
"Finally, we just drew a line in the sand
Wirsching and we ran an ad in The Wheat Farm/Row-Crop acreage planted in Kansas for harvest in 2020. Included
Farmer magazine with a tagline that says 'Grain on the list is SY Monument, the top Kansas variety in
&UDIWLVDOODERXWTXDOLW\DQGTXDOLW\ÀRXUVWDUWVZLWK 2020, seeded on 9.7% of Kansas wheat acreage. The
quality wheat,'" he said. "We published all the va- complete Grain Craft list includes 16 varieties planted
rieties Reuben tested that we liked, and boom, right on at least 0.4% of Kansas acreage and accounted for
away all these breeders are asking, 'How do I get 34% of all Kansas seedings.
Whether other bakers choose to partner with Grain
on your list?' Not long afterward I was at a National
Grain and Feed Association meeting and someone Craft or other millers in a preferred varieties program,
asked me, 'How does it feel to be the most talked the increased plantings across the Southwest of the
SUHIHUUHGFURSVZLOOFRQIHUEHQH¿WVWREDNHUVEURDGO\
about guy in the state of Kansas?'"
Koenig said the advertisement helped start a Koenig said.
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conversation, which is exactly what Grain Craft
"We have this network, but there are preferred vawas seeking.
"We're getting more and more farmers calling us rieties being grown that are coming into the system
direct wanting to be part of our program, which is every day. However, if there are others who want to
formalize a relationship and a program, absolutely,
pretty awesome," he said.
52

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