11/02/06 Yield is the hard white wheat key

Idaho Wheat Commission administrator Blaine Jacobsen says this was a good year for hard white wheat. JACOBSEN "The domestic demand for hard white exceeded what we produced in Idaho so we're hoping to grow it again next year." Bill Mendenhall of Burley-based Agri Source has been a big seller of Idaho grown hard white wheat. Mendenhall says millers like it because it's a sweeter variety of wheat, it can be blended with other wheat varieties and it can be used to make white whole wheat bread, much to the delight of children. MENDENHALL "We've gone from 250 thousand bushels three years ago to about two million bushels, two million bushels with my company but probably three million bushels in southern Idaho and that doesn't cover the needs hardly at all. We could have sold ten million bushels this year if we had it." Will Idaho farmers grow more hard white wheat to meet the increasing demand? MENDENHALL "The potential for growth is in yield. Even though it's a great wheat for flour millers if you can't get producers to make good money per acre they're not going to switch from soft white which has always been a good yielder." Mendenhall says based on price forecasts for the next couple of years, hard white should bring 60 to 80 cents more than soft white. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott