SAN ANTONIO, Texas – On Super Bowl weekend in the most football-crazed state in the United States, a group of American farmers found themselves cooped up in a meeting room talking about hard white wheat.
And they found out they were getting their butts kicked all over the field by Canada in the international arena.
“The production has escalated much faster in Canada than it has in the United States, much to my chagrin,” said Ron Stoddard, chair of the U.S. Wheat Associates’ hard white wheat committee.
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He told delegates attending the North American Grain Congress that Canada is poised to seed between 2.1 and 2.4 million acres of hard white wheat in 2006, which is double what was planted in 2005.
U.S. growers have planted 760,000 acres of the crop in 2006, down from 825,000 acres in 2005.
Stoddard blamed the contraction of acres on several factors, including elevator companies’ reluctance to segregate the crop, poor performance of existing varieties and the expiration of a government incentive program.
Four years ago neither country grew much hard white wheat. But lately both exporters have scrambled to meet the growing demand for the new class of wheat in South Korea and Taiwan where the high extraction rate is used to produce better quality noodles and steamed breads.
Members of U.S. Wheat are eager to foster the hard white wheat industry so they can meet the needs of their Asian customers and domestic processors who have also become increasingly interested in the product.
Stoddard said the big difference between how the industry has evolved in the two countries is that the Canadian Wheat Board is focusing on two strong varieties while the U.S. is growing a wide spectrum of lines, some of which have been poor performers.
A variety called Trigo that was grown extensively in Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska turned out to be highly susceptible to pre-harvest sprouting, as well as stem and leaf rust.
But Stoddard is optimistic some new varieties planted in Kansas, South Dakota, Washington state and Montana in 2006 will address the sprouting and rust problems.
A lot of foundation seed was planted this year, which could provide a springboard for the hard white industry barring drought, disease or other unforeseen production problems.
“The 2006 crop is certainly a pivotal year for us,” he said.
Surprisingly, he is pleased to see Canada increasing its acres of hard white wheat.
“Canada’s production may be a Godsend for us,” said Stoddard.
That’s because when he conducted a poll of American processors, he discovered there is enough annual demand for 3.8 million tonnes of the crop, but American farmers only harvested 975,000 tonnes of hard white wheat in 2005.
Food companies told him they have developed whole grain breads and pastas based on hard white wheat but haven’t gone public with the products due to supply concerns.
If Canada harvests a large crop it can temporarily fill some of that need until U.S. farmers step up their production.
“In a way that helps us create that market demand,” said Stoddard.
He is confident the new varieties under multiplication in 2006 will assist the industry in meeting the needs of domestic millers in the coming years.
Once they are able to satisfy domestic demand, American growers can turn their attention to competing with Canada and Australia in foreign markets, which Stoddard estimates require another 6.8 million tonnes of hard white wheat.
