The Ultimate Partnership: Helping Nigeria’s Millers Feed a Hungry PeopleWhen a wheat import ban was lifted in Nigeria in 1992, USW — with funding from American wheat farmers and the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service — was first in line to help the country’s millers and bakers rebuild and expand beyond even the most optimistic expectations. The relationship between U.S. wheat growers, USW and Nigeria’s milling industry is the ultimate success story of commitment, accomplishment and shared opportunity. With U.S. wheat imports as the grist and technical training and assistance by USW as the power, flour milling is now the second largest industry in Nigeria — buying almost all its wheat from American farmers. Our Nigerian customers have great respect for the many years of dedicated USW service and the consistently high quality of U.S. wheat.
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Meet Our Wheat: Trade Teams Bring U.S.Wheat Importers to the SourceThe United States has the highest quality wheat and the most reliable export supply in the world. And we prove it year after year.
USW conducts more than 10 trade team visits to the United States each year, to connect international millers, bakers and other wheat buyers personally to wheat farmers and the U.S. supply chain.
Trade teams visit wheat farmers to talk about crop conditions, and wheat breeders discuss future varieties. They also visit export facilities to view grain grading and inspection procedures, and even futures exchanges to witness price discovery.
These intense trips, supported by checkoff dollars from state wheat commissions and the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service market development programs, are essential tools to building trust and lasting relationships.
Read more (Adobe Reader required) A Whole-istic Product: U.S.Wheat Associates Promotes Whole Wheat Foods in AsiaWhether they live in New York or Beijing, consumers are eating more whole wheat foods. Yet whole wheat products are still relatively new to Asian consumers—and to the flour millers and bakers who serve them.
By sharing expertise and experience with milling and baking whole wheat flour, USW is helping an industry with strong growth potential overcome challenges while promoting U.S. wheat as the ideal source for high-quality, tasty whole wheat products.
Read more (Adobe Reader required) Thinking Downstream: U.S.Wheat Associates Keeps Exports Flowing During Columbia-Snake River System UpgradeForty to 45 percent of all wheat exported from the United States—including 75 percent of soft white wheat (SW)—passes through the mouth of the Columbia River. So it was no surprise that overseas buyers anxiously wondered about U.S. wheat supplies following an announcement that large segments of the Columbia River and Snake River would be closed for several lock and dam repairs from December 2010 to March 2011.
Recognizing that the river system upgrade could create challenges for some U.S. wheat buyers and pose a serious threat to the country’s reputation as the world’s most reliable wheat supplier, USW enacted a plan to keep buyers informed, demand high and exports flowing.
Read more (Adobe Reader required) Growing the Wheat They Want: U.S. Wheat Associates Partnership Works to Improve Wheat QualityWhile yield, protein and disease resistance potentially all play a factor in how farmers choose varieties, overseas millers and bakers consider other characteristics when choosing to use U.S. wheat.
Through the Overseas Varietal Analysis (OVA) program, USW brings those customers into the wheat variety selection.
OVA is an innovative program that demonstrates the beneficial milling and baking characteristics of newly released wheat varieties and helps the industry varieties perform best both on the farm and in the flour mill.
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