03/23/05 Marketing hard white wheat for Idaho

Some growers in Idaho have picked up the hard white wheat banner. There's a growing market for it in Mexico and the domestic use is also beginning to grow says AgriSource's Bill Mendenhall. MENDENHALL "We always grow a fairly good quality crop. Last year they tried to put out a lot of hard white wheat in the Midwest, it got rain on it and it sprouts. Those varieties back there sprout easier than hard red winter wheat does. So they're not going to be so anxious to plant that stuff this year. So it kind of puts things back on us in Idaho and the Pacific Northwest." Last year Idaho sold out of hard white wheat and Mendenhall says the goal now is to increase acreage at the same time that new markets are being added. MENDENHALL "We're only able to put out a million to a million and a half bushels right now and we're going to try to go to a couple of million bushels his next year. We're taking it slow." The US government is promoting hard white wheat and has gotten into the game by offering some grower incentives. MENDENHALL "They set aside 20 million dollars to give as subsidies to the growers. They give 20 cents a bushel up to 60 bushels an acre to anybody who grows hard white wheat. You have to make US number two or better." Several millers who want more whole grains for use in their breads and cereals also fuel the demand for the hard white. There's another potential market in Asian countries like China and Taiwan where the wheat can be used for noodle production. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott