Article about white winter wheat (soon to be the big thing ?).
January 18, 1999
Kan. Farmers Plant White Wheat Crop
Filed at 1:59 a.m. EST
By The Associated Press
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- By the year 2000, Kansas farmers expect to bring to
market their first bushels of hard white winter wheat, which they hope will
help maintain the state's reputation as the world's breadbasket well into the
next century.
For now, just 1,000 acres of the new crop -- in two varieties and all destined
for use as certified seed -- have been planted in eight locations around Kansas.
About half of that acreage is irrigated, according to the Kansas Association of
Wheat Growers.
By comparison, Kansas farmers have planted 10 million acres of hard red
winter wheat, the crop that won Kansas its top ranking as a wheat state.
Kansas has been preparing for years to make the shift to hard white wheat --
which is increasingly preferred in the global marketplace, particularly in Asia.
''White wheat will become the majority wheat in Kansas between five and 10
years,'' said Ron Madl, director of the Wheat Research Center at Kansas State
University.
This coming harvest is critical because it marks the first time the two white
varieties, dubbed Betty and Heyne, left the research fields after their public
release last fall. Farmers will be watching carefully how well the foundation
seed does under real field conditions, and how well grain elevators are able to
keep the white separate from the red wheat.
Madl said the state hopes to harvest between 50,000 and 70,000 bushels of
registered seed come spring. That seed would be planted next fall, producing
enough crops for both certified seed as well as for market consumption.
''We are talking year 2000 harvest for when we will have initial market
introduction,'' Madl said. ''The 2001 harvest will be the first harvest in which
a significant portion of Kansas wheat could be white wheat.''
By 2001, between 10 percent and 20 percent of Kansas's wheat crop will be
white wheat, he said.
Kansas State University's new varieties reportedly can survive better in the
Plains states because of their winter hardiness, drought and heat tolerance and
resistance to disease and insects.
A smaller quantity of the foundation seed was made available to Kansas
farmers because of storm damage to some of the growing fields in the spring
of 1998, the growers association said.
Most of the white wheat this year was planted by seed growers in western
Kansas, west of Great Bend, although at least one planting was put in near
Wellington in central Kansas, said Brett Myers, the association's executive
vice president. That is because the new varieties seem especially well-suited
for growing conditions in western Kansas.
Industry leaders have been holding informational meetings statewide on white
wheat, attended so far by more than 800 producers.
Of prime concern at the gatherings has been how to keep red and white
wheats separate when farmers start taking their crops to the grain elevator.
The best way to do that, Madl said, would be to designate certain elevators or
silos for this harvest for white wheat only.
''White wheat is critical to Kansas maintaining its position as a wheat state
because red wheat simply will continue to find less and less market in the
world,'' Madl said. ''That has been clearly demonstrated by the export
markets over the past 20 years.''
Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company |
