Nebraska Wheat Board tour successful

Nebraska

The Nebraska Wheat Board hosted a tour of the Wheat Marketing Center in Portland, Ore., recently. Fourteen producers, grain elevator operators and other Wheat industry representatives spent three days learning about Wheat quality, marketing and exporting. Participants toured Pasco, a Japanese company that prepares frozen dough bakery products and ships them to Japan. They also toured the Port of Portland and saw first hand the logistics required to ship products. Columbia Grain International gave the group some insight into specifications and grain inspections. Laura Klemke, grain merchandiser at the Farmers Coop Elevator in Hemingford, was especially interested in the high-tech testing, cleaning and blending capabilities that enable them to load shipments quickly and still meet the quality demands of the purchaser. Klemke reports, "It is astounding, the accuracy this facility continues to maintain considering the amount of Wheat that is handled during the loading of each vessel."

The group also toured Shin Shin Noodle factory, which started in a garage and with the Wheat Marketing Center's assistance with formulas and production, has now expanded into a three state market with eighteen employees.

The group always enjoys seeing the Wheat Marketing Center laboratory and the various testing that it conducts. The group had a course on the impact of Wheat and flour quality in finished products. John Oades, from U.S. Wheat Associates discussed the marketing of U.S. Wheat as a quality product. The U.S. producer is not able to compete on price in the international market. Our niche is quality. In particular, hard white wheat, is increasingly sought after in the Asian market as well as domestically with the USDA Food Pyramid promoting whole grains. Gary Narjes, a Wheat producer from Sidney said, "As producers, something we're going to have to look at, is producing what the market wants, and that's hard white wheat, especially the overseas markets." With approximately one-half of Nebraska's Wheat production being exported, it is very important to produce Wheat that meets the demands of our export market.

The Nebraska Wheat Board is a member of the Wheat Marketing Center, an organization that helps U.S. Wheat producers establish and strengthen international markets. The Wheat Marketing Center conducts seminars and workshops for foreign millers and bakers, showing various uses for the high quality Wheat produced in the United States. They also conduct quality testing for foreign buyers.

The Nebraska Wheat Board administers the one and one quarter cent per bushel excise tax levied on Wheat marketed in Nebraska. The Board invests the funds in programs of international and domestic market development and improvement, policy development, research, promotion and education.

Date:1/25/06