U.S. Wheat Associates Features Nebraska Producers in New International Export Campaign

New wheat export promotional materials tie product reliability, quality messages to positive U.S. wheat producer image among importers

ARLINGTON, Va. (November 7, 2008)—Wheat producers Larry Flohr, of Chappell, Neb., and Dan Hughes, of Venango, Neb., have been selected by U.S. Wheat Associates Inc. (USW) to be part of a new international promotional campaign reinforcing the image of U.S. wheat producers as the world’s most reliable suppliers of high-quality wheat to buyers, millers and food processors worldwide.

Debuting in November, the new campaign theme is: “The world’s most reliable choice. The wheat you want from producers you can depend on.”

As part of the campaign, USW representatives overseas will distribute high-quality posters, suitable for framing, for display in offices of public and private wheat buyers, millers and food processors. The posters promote the high quality and diversity of U.S. milling wheat by featuring the producers amid the natural beauty of their wheat at harvest time. Different posters depict three classes of wheat—hard red winter wheat grown in the Central and Southern Plains, hard red spring wheat grown in the Northern Plains, and soft white wheat grown in the Pacific Northwest—and growers who produce them.

“The concept behind this campaign is to help buyers in other parts of the world know more about the product—where it’s produced, where it originates, who produces it and the safeguards we take,” Flohr says. “It’s important to the importer and to their consumers.”

Flohr produces hard red winter wheat, wheat seed and millet on his farm in the Nebraska panhandle. Wheat from his area is exported to Japan and Southeast Asia for use in bread and pasta. In late July, he was part of a group that hosted an overseas trade team visit. He currently serves as a member of the Nebraska Wheat Board.

Hughes raises hard red and white winter wheat, along with corn, millet, sunflowers and pinto beans on his southwestern Nebraska farm. He has hosted overseas trade team visits.
“The idea behind this campaign is to put a face on the product,” says Hughes. “By putting our faces on the posters and communications materials, it conveys the idea that we’re growing wheat to feed our families, and theirs.

“Anything we can do to try to personalize relationships helps our marketing efforts. When you mention the United States, Japan, South Korea or any country to anyone, a mental picture comes to mind,” Hughes adds. “When we put a face on it, that goes a lot further in helping bring business to a more personal level.” Hughes is the chairman of the Nebraska Wheat Board and is currently serving on the USW board.

Building on product-focused campaigns of the past, this campaign is designed to more closely link the product and wheat producers, according to Steve Mercer, USW director of communications. USW worked with state wheat commission staff to select the producers.

“USW has done a good job of using producer checkoff dollars to position our products favorably in a competitive market. Now, we want to tie the reliability and quality image of what is grown to the people who grow it,” Mercer says.

The United States ranks as the world’s largest wheat exporter, and about half of the country’s wheat crop is exported annually. As part of their efforts to foster export sales, USW and state wheat commission staff host several teams of overseas buyers or grain officials every year. Trade missions may include visits with local, state and national officials, and tours of grain elevators, universities and research facilities, ports or transportation infrastructure, food processors, and wheat farms.

U.S. Wheat Associates is the industry’s market development organization working in more than 90 countries on behalf of America’s wheat producers. The activities of U.S. Wheat Associates are made possible by producer checkoff dollars managed by 18 state wheat commissions and through cost-share funding provided by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. For more information, visit www.uswheat.org or contact your state wheat commission.

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