WHEAT QUALITY COUNCIL 2010 ANNUAL MEETING SUMMARY

By Ben Handcock, Executive Vice President

The Wheat Quality Council (WQC) held its annual meeting, forum and technical review sessions February 16-18, 2010
at the KCI Embassy Suites Hotel in Kansas City, MO with over 135 industry participants in attendance.

The WQC is the only industry-wide organization that brings together all wheat interests from breeders and producers to millers,
processors and bakers.  These participants are provided information on the milling and baking qualities of wheat varieties that will be released, grown and processed in the next few years.

The wheat breeders have an opportunity to network with the industry to determine what quality characteristics the millers and
bakers would like to see in new wheat varieties.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The meeting began with the WQC Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday, February 16.  Following discussions on financial,
membership and budget reports, the annual election was held.  The following people will serve on the WQC governing board for 2010: 
Hayden Wands, Sara Lee-Chair;  Brad Seabourn, USDA/ARC/CGAHR-Vice Chair;  Brian Walker, Horizon Milling-Past Chair;  Glen Weaver,
ConAgra-Executive Committee;  Jackie Rudd, TX Wheat Producers-Executive Committee;  Neal Fisher, ND Wheat Commission-Executive Committee;
plus Tim Aschbrenner, Cereal Food Processors; Steve Schorn, DSM Food Specialties; C.J. Lin, Mennel Milling; Mike Fassezke, Star of the West Milling;
Jay Romsa, General Mills; Jeff Zyskowski, Horizon Milling; Monte White, Research Products; Cathy Butti, AgriPro-Syngenta;
Justin Gilpin, KS Wheat Commission; Sid Perry, WestBred-Monsanto, Ed Souza, ARS Soft Wheat Lab; and Jane DeMarchi, North American Millers Association.

FORUM

The theme of the forum this year was “Wheat—Grading It, Losing Acres Of It, and Breeding Changes To It.”

Patrick McCluskey,USDA GIPSA, reported on the wheat grading standards review that is in process at the current time.

Dana Peterson, NAWG, discussed challenges to the wheat industry, lost wheat acres, and plans in the works for moving forward from here.

Darrell Hanavan, CO Wheat, presented information on Public/Private wheat research collaboration in light of the recent re-entry of
several private companies into wheat breeding.

The keynote dinner speaker was Len Heflich, VP of Quality Systems for BIMBO USA. Mr. Heflich talked about the certainty and
uncertainty in flour from a baker’s perspective. He also pointed out the many changes that have taken place in the baking industry over the years.
He made some observations about the possible introduction of biotech wheat in the next few years from the viewpoint of the American Bakers Association.

All of the speakers were well received and good comments were made regarding their presentations. Reporters from Milling and
Baking News covered all the presentations. I would expect to see some coverage in an upcoming issue, so watch for that.
We thank them for their willingness to cover our conference each year.

SNAPSHOT OF LINES ENTERED FOR REVIEW THIS YEAR   

Forty-eight breeder- submitted lines and checks were entered for evaluation from the 2009 growing season. 
These lines were hard spring, soft winter and hard winter wheats.

In the Hard Springs:

WestBred/Monsanto:  Entered four lines in the trials this year. The breeder suggested they will fall into “niche” markets.
Three have been named “Brogan,” “Digger,” and “Edge.” The fourth has not been named.

AgriPro/Syngenta:  Will release one, as yet unnamed, new variety. Seed will be available to Associates in the spring of 2011.
It is broadly adapted to the Northern Plains.

World Wide Wheat:  Entered two lines with high yield potential and resistance to stripe rust. Their disposition is not know as of this time.

University of Minnesota:  Entered one line with high yield potential and a good disease package, but will not release it at this time.

South Dakota State University:  Is releasing a new variety named “Select”.  It has high test weight and good FHB resistance.
Another line will likely be in the tests again next year with a potential release in 2011.

 North Dakota State University:  Entered two lines, both of which are still in pre-release. One is a potential to
replace “Reeder,” the other is a potential replacement for “Faller.” Seed may be available in 2011 if they are released.

In the Eastern Soft Winters:

 Cornell University:  Entered  two soft white wheat lines with the proposed names of “Hopkins” and “Bridgeport.”
Both appear to have milling and baking characteristics similar to “Caledonia.” Both will likely be available to producers in the fall of 2010.

 AgriPro-Syngenta: Had three soft reds and one soft white in the trials this year. The soft wheat line named W1062 received the highest marks
from the soft wheat cooperators this year. It has very good cookie baking properties. Oakes has been released for production in the midsouth,
delta and east coast areas. The other two lines are named W1104 and W1566

 Virginia Tech:  Has released “Merl,” a soft red high-yielding variety for use in pastries.  Has released “SW049029104” a soft
red high-yielding variety with good milling and cracker baking qualities. 

 The Ohio State University:  Entered OH04-264-58, a soft red with very strong gluten strength. It would seem to best suited for crackers.
Licensing is underway now.

 In the Hard Winters:

 Colorado State University:  Had two entries.  Both were rated about equal to the good check-“Hatcher.” CO04393 may be released for planting in 2011.
CO04499 is a Clearfield cultivar also possible for 2011. Both are hard reds.

 Kansas State University-Hays:  Had “Tiger” back for further evaluations. It is a hard white best suited for noodle making and is in a restricted release program.
It is their first Hessian fly resistant white variety.

 Oklahoma State University:  Has released “Billings,” a red wheat for grain production that has large kernel size for Oklahoma plus a good disease package.
Also entered a red wheat that may replace “Endurance.” They have not decided whether to release it.

 Montana State University:  Entered two hard red lines. One does not appear to be winter hardy enough for Eastern Montana. The other is a solid stemmed
line that also has questionable winter hardiness for Eastern Montana. Both are a couple of years away.

 AgriPro/Syngenta: Will have certified seed available to farmers in 2011 for two new lines. One is named “CJ,” for Chuck Johnson, and is best adapted to the
Eastern and Central great plains. The other, “SY Gold,” is better adapted to Colorado, southwest Nebraska and western Kansas.

 WestBred/Monsanto: Only entered one hard red, but it won the millers award for “Best New Variety” for the 2009 crop. The breeder is Sid Perry, and this
outstanding wheat has been named “WB Stout.”  The cooperators found it to have exceptional baking performance.

 Texas A&M-Amarillo: Entered one hard red line from the TAM program. It has better quality than the good check, TAM 111.
Four acre are planted with a potential release in 2012.

 University of Nebraska: Entered two red lines. One has soil-borne wheat mosaic virus resistance (rare for NE) and is suited for southeast
and south central Nebraska. The other line appears to be best suited for irrigated production in western Nebraska. They have not yet released
and named either line.

 Cooperators

 A total of 37 cooperators from across the United States evaluated our lines from 2009.  This is a huge investment of money, time and effort on their part.
They are truly dedicated to our program and deserve our sincere thanks and gratitude for their participation.

 Upcoming Events

 Wheat Tours:

Ø  Hard winter tour Dates are May 3-6, 2010

Ø  Hard Spring and Durum Tour Dates are July 26-29, 2010

(Registration forms at www.wheatqualitycouncil.org)

   2011 Annual Meeting