Mexican flour millers take tour of Kansas wheat industry during harvest

Most folk leap on the likelihood to hop within the mix and get a firsthand take a look at the Kansas wheat harvest from the buddy seat. For Mexican flour millers — just like the crew that visited Kansas and Ohio in June — it’s not only a joyride, however an opportunity to judge their principal materials straight from the supply. And for Kansas farmers, these conversations with massive and necessary clients retains grain flowing south.

“We’re excited to have the ability to deliver clients to the U.S. once more to fulfill face-to-face with U.S. wheat farmers and to be taught concerning the U.S. advertising system,” stated Stephanie Bryant-Erdmann, U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) assistant regional director for Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and Venezuela, who led the crew. “The face-to-face conversations and hands-on experiences an in-person commerce crew provides are invaluable.”

“Digital conferences, conferences and occasions have allowed USW to stay in shut contact with our clients all over the world in the course of the previous two years, however there’s nothing like using within the mix with the U.S. farmer as they harvest their wheat; standing within the subject of wheat rolling the wheat head between your fingers to examine the kernels; or breaking bread collectively and we’re happy to have the ability to share these in-person experiences with our clients once more.”

The Kansas Wheat Fee is a member of USW, which mixes funding from 17 state wheat commissions and cost-share grants from the USDA’s Overseas Agricultural Service (FAS). USW promotes the reliability, high quality and worth of all six U.S. wheat lessons to wheat consumers, millers, bakers, meals processors and authorities officers in additional than 100 nations all over the world.

As a part of this work, USW organizes in-person excursions throughout the globe to offer firsthand insights into the present yr’s wheat harvest. Kansas Wheat workers commonly participates in these applications to offer personalised info to every market and obtain suggestions straight from clients.

Space fields had been rained out in Kansas, which means no mix rides, however the crew did have the possibility to be taught extra concerning the Kansas wheat from farm to export. In Manhattan, the crew toured the Kansas Wheat Innovation Heart to be taught extra concerning the trade and ongoing analysis. On the USDA Heart for Grain and Animal Well being Analysis, the crew obtained an replace on this yr’s crop high quality and the IGP Institute provided an summary of worldwide schooling alternatives.

Within the subject, the crew toured the Grain Craft flour mill in McPherson and visited MKC’s grain terminal in Canton, particularly within the prepare loader and inspection station. Rail is a crucial piece of the circulate of wheat from the US to Mexico. Practice loading services and direct rail entry make transportation on to Mexican flour mills simple. Within the 2021/2022 advertising yr, 74 % of U.S. wheat exports to Mexico had been delivered by way of direct rail, a median of 5 unit or shuttle trains (110 rail automobiles a bit) per week.

These rail shipments add as much as make Mexico an necessary marketplace for U.S. wheat producers. Mexico has been the biggest marketplace for U.S. wheat by quantity for six consecutive years in addition to the highest marketplace for each U.S. arduous crimson winter (HRW) and comfortable crimson winter (SRW) wheat. Within the 2021/2022 advertising yr, which ended on Might 31, Mexico bought almost 136 million bushels (3.7 million metric tons) of U.S. wheat, up two % from the earlier yr. Within the first week of the 2022/2023 advertising yr, Mexico bought 29.5 million bushels (802,000 metric tons) of U.S. wheat, together with 6.28 million bushels (171,000 metric tons) of U.S. HRW wheat.

That’s excellent news for wheat producers — and all of the extra purpose to open the door to the mix and invite the world in to see simply how arduous Kansans work year-in and year-out to offer the world’s most dependable alternative of high quality wheat.

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Written by Julia Debes for Kansas Wheat