10/20/06 Hard white wheat in demand

Idaho growers produced 3.7 million bushels of hard white wheat this year. That's a dramatic increase of 50 percent over last year's 2.4 million bushels and its due in part to domestic millers offering contracts. Idaho Wheat Commission executive director Blaine Jacobson says that increase didn't even meet the domestic demand for eight to nine million bushels in Idaho alone. His hope is that at least an additional 1.3 million bushels of hard white wheat will be produced in 2007 in south central and eastern Idaho. He says the demand and a good price to the farmer will be there again this year. JACOBSON "It tastes a little bit sweeter than the hard red and then the miller can get a higher yield, an extra pound of flour out of a bushel of wheat. And than another factor is the push that whole grains were given by the food pyramid. The hard white makes a much better whole grains product than what a hard red does." Idaho couldn't send more hard white wheat to Mexican millers who started buying it several years ago. Jacobson says trying to keep up with the demand from long time domestic customers was hard enough this year. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott