Informing buyers about PNW red wheat quality
Farm and Ranch June 27, 2011 The Pacific Northwest is of course known for its soft white wheat production but the region also grows about 80 million bushels annually of red wheat, hard red winter and hard red spring. Yet quality data for the PNW red wheats is not included in some key reports used to inform overseas buyers. They rely on grain produced in the northern and central plains. Glen Squires of the Washington Grain Commission says the commission is trying to change that. Squires: “Is to include the quality of the hard red winter and the hard red spring that is produced here in the Pacific Northwest into the hard red spring regional quality report and the hard red winter quality report as well as the U.S. Wheat Crop Quality Report so we can get that information to buyers as to the quality results of the red wheat that is produced in the Pacific Northwest in a given year.” Squires says they have been able to talk to people in the primary hard red wheat states. Squires: “We have been able to essentially make the case that anywhere from 20 to 30% of the red wheat exported off the Pacific Coast is actually grown in the Pacific Northwest. So that has facilitated the discussion about the need to include the quality of that wheat into the reports.” And Squires says there is agreement the PNW data should be included. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net. ?
