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Wheat Quality Summit held at the FAPCOklahoma The Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center and the Oklahoma Wheat Commission welcomed wheat industry professionals and producers to the 2008 Wheat Quality Summit held at the FAPC on Aug. 13. With planting season just around the corner, producers are making decisions on what varieties to plant, said Renee Albers-Nelson, FAPC milling and baking specialist. High yields and test weights are important factors to the producer when choosing which varieties to plant, but good end-use quality also should be a consideration. "Not all wheat varieties are created equal, and not all varieties, when made into flour, can make desirable bakery products," Nelson said. "Purchasers of Oklahoma wheat expect to be able to make sound baking products, consistently. If not, they will buy wheat somewhere else. Our wheat farmers need to grow wheat varieties that are known to have good milling and baking qualities." The Wheat Quality Summit was designed to help producers understand how quality is determined once wheat moves through the supply chain from the elevator to the milling and baking industry. Topics covered during the summit included wheat and bread baking quality, biotechnology and the economics of wheat prices and their impact on the baking industry. The summit helped producers understand what quality means to the milling and baking community and how that quality is affected by the varieties they plant, said Mike Schulte, director of marketing for the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. "The Wheat Quality Summit is a great tool for producers, grain elevator operators, millers and bakers to take advantage of," Schulte said. "I think we had a really good response from industry this year and hope we can continue to work more with agricultural producers in the future." The Wheat Quality Summit is designed to show all areas of the industry and how proper planning is important for all segments in the marketplace, Schulte said. It also is important for producers to have the information available to them about the best varieties to plant. "I think the Wheat Quality Summit is a great way for producers to be informed about why specific varieties are better for the end use product that is created at the other end of the marketing chain," Schulte said. "It is good to have high performing varieties in the field, but they will not do the industry or producers much good if we cannot sell a product that the millers and bakers do not want." Wheat Quality Summit participants listened to presentations from industry professionals and educators, including Hayden Wands, director of procurement for Sara Lee Corp.; Bradford Seabourn, research chemist director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Hard Winter Wheat Quality Lab in Manhattan, Kan.; William Wilson, agricultural economics professor at North Dakota State University; and Patricia Rayas, FAPC cereal chemist. Sponsors for the event included Farm Credit, Gosney Farms, Upper Red Fork Innovations, My Big Mama's Kitchen, Ken's Bakery Inc., Shawnee Milling Co., Pioneer Pies, Sara Lee Corp., ADM Milling, JB Stewart Co., Persimmon Hill Farms, FAPC, Oklahoma Wheat Commission, Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association and Plans Grains Inc. 9/8/08 Date: 9/3/08
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