"A lot of the reasons for having this meeting was because the working groups were having a difficult time getting started when they couldn't just look at each other in the eye and just talk," Daren Coppock, NAWG CEO, said in a conference call with reporters following the summit.
"We had hoped when they came out of their meeting in September that they'd be able to do some of their work by e-mail and conference call and whatever else they could do to get going. Holding one meeting to establish the common ground and the personal relationships wasn't really enough to get it going."
wheatSummit II, therefore, should be considered a work meeting rather than a decision-making meeting, Coppock said.
"At the close, we had several papers that were draft position statements that everyone is taking home with them and will be seeking clearance for so that in the near future we can release these as a majority opinion of what those who attended the wheat summits believe," Coppock said. "We've completed the wordsmithing. People are taking them home and we hope to be back with you very shortly with the statements themselves."
Perhaps the most controversial issue, that of biotech wheat, will be treated in a separate statement, according to NAWG president, John Thaemert.
"That is a very, very tough issue," said Thaemert, a Sylvan Grove, Kan., producer. "(It's like) making sausage and there was a lot of grinding going on. The good part was people were more familiar with each other than they were at the first summit. People were more frank with their discussion and we really made some progress."
There are some other issues that have been singled out for further study and perhaps more statements, but summiteers decided to keep the four groups intact until September or October.
"We believe we need to stay on task as to how the farm bill goes and keep those groups in place until the Food Security Act is in place and then talk about other issues."
The majority reports from the working groups will be coming out in "dribs and drabs over the next several weeks," according to John Miller, vice chairman of the millers' group.
"Some people will not be able to sign onto a particular paper because their organization does not support that particular issue," said Miller, president of Miller Milling Co., Minneapolis, Minn. "There are other cases where they don't think they have the competence or technical expertise to be very assertive on this issue.
"If we had to go with 100 percent consensus of all the groups here we wouldn't be able to come up with much of a meaningful result. I think, though, there will be strong majorities."
Biotech divisions ending?
Through time and the summits the biotech wheat issue, which created many divisions between members of NAWG and U.S. wheat Associates, is quickly becoming history, Thaemert said.
"There is a lot of unity there. I think you are going to be surprised at what you see," Thaemert said. "People are beginning to see the light. We are working in that working group to continue to pursue this, to work on science-based education and on consumer acceptance and perception.
"In this summit, we represent the wheat industry from the ground up. Everyone has skin in this game and they know it. I think we have the start of a very powerful organization. We full well expect to have a Roman numeral 'III' summit."
Added Miller: "This is a process not an event. We leave here enthused about continuing to work together and have some meaningful results down the road.
"The most gratifying thing has been the education that has occurred here. I wish we had started this process a long time ago. When we started this we were woefully uneducated about our individual constituencies and what strengths they bring. It makes it infinitely easier to reach consensus in a meaningful way rather than in just social conversation."
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, wheat's share of U.S. field crop receipts has fallen from 20 percent in the early 1980s to about 11 percent in recent years.
Larry Dreiling can be reached by phone at 785-628-1117 or by e-mail at ldreiling@aol.com.
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Date: 4/26/07