• Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo
  • LinkedIn
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • MEMBER LOGIN
U.S. Wheat Associates
  • Our Story
    • About USW
    • Dependable People. Reliable Wheat.
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff Directory
    • Office Locations
  • Market Information
    • Market Information
    • Price Reports
    • Price Charting Tools
    • Supply and Demand
    • Commercial Sales
  • Crop Quality
    • Crop Quality
    • Harvest Reports
    • Hard Red Winter
    • Hard Red Spring
    • Hard White
    • Soft White
    • Soft Red Winter
    • Durum
  • Working With Buyers
    • Working With Buyers
    • Customer Conferences
    • Wheat Classes
    • Wheat Glossary
    • Wheat Grade Factors
    • How to Buy
    • Ask the Expert
    • Resources
  • Who We Represent
    • Who We Represent
    • Board Meetings
    • State Wheat Commissions
    • Partners
    • Trade Activities
  • Policy
    • Policy
    • Trade Negotiations
    • Trade Barriers
    • Innovation and Sustainability
    • Food Security and Assistance
    • Public–Private Partnership
  • News
    • Newsroom
    • Wheat Letter Blog
    • News Releases
    • Videos
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
You are here: Wheat Letter Blog 1
Plant Breeding Innovation, Steve Wirsching, Trade Delegation, Wheat Quality

Latin American Holiday Traditions Help Inform Wheat Breeders

By Steve Wirsching, USW Vice President and Director, West Coast Office

In Latin America, the holidays are filled with special wheat food traditions. Mexicans celebrate the visit of the Three Kings to the Christ child with Rosca de Reyes (Kings Cake Wreath), a ring-shaped sweet bread. In Peru, wheat consumption increases with Panettone bread sales. This holiday sweet bread can be traced back to the Italian bakers that made Peru their home many generations ago.

Special holiday breads are thriving despite a baking industry transitioning from artisan bakery shops to highly automated commercial operations. Such modern bakeries employ equipment that drives a need for ever more consistent, high-quality flour.

It was in this context that U.S. Wheat Associates (USW), with funding from member state wheat commissions and USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, assembled a team of leading wheat breeders to visit the top markets in Latin America. This Wheat Quality Improvement Team (WQIT) traveled to Mexico City, Mexico, Guatemala City, Guatemala, San Jose, Costa Rica and Lima, Peru, Dec. 8 to 18, 2018. Meetings with several food processing and flour milling industry representatives focused on U.S. wheat quality relative to the unique production challenges these customers face.

Wheat farmers, state wheat commissions, and public and private breeders understand that the end-use quality of U.S. wheat, as measured by end-use functionality, is more important than ever before in today’s increasingly competitive marketplace Such direct input from Latin American food processing companies to breeders is one of the ways USW is helping determine breeding targets, as well as helping develop selection criteria for new variety releases. The face-to-face interaction with breeders in this activity helps overseas buyers understand that U.S. wheat quality is no accident but is, rather, the product of investment from farmers and years of scientific work.

Customers shared several preferred characteristics from U.S. wheat including consistent quality from shipment to shipment, increased dough strength and water absorption, and lower polyphenol oxidase (PPO) to prevent color change. These messages and more will be relayed to state wheat commissions at upcoming Wheat Quality Council meetings in Portland, Ore., and Kansas City, Mo.

Market development programs like this Wheat Quality Improvement Team help ensure that Latin American sweet breeds like the Rosca de Reyes and Panettone continue to be a holiday tradition — made with high-quality wheat from the United States.

Participating Wheat Breeders 

The WQIT to Latin America in December included:

  • Guorong Zhang, Leader, Kansas State wheat breeding program and Associate Professor at Kansas State University;
  • Brett Carver, Wheat Genetics Chair in Agriculture, Oklahoma State University;
  • Mike Giroux, Co-director of the Montana State Wheat Quality Laboratory and leader of the Montana State durum breeding program;
  • Jackie Rudd, Leader of the hard winter wheat breeding program for the High Plains and Rolling Plains of Texas;
  • Arron Carter, Director of the winter wheat breeding and genetics program at Washington State University;
  • Mr. Steve Wirsching, USW Vice President and Director, West Coast Office.

The team and USW Staff in front of the Presedente Hotel in Mexico City.

January 4, 2019/by actualize
Share this
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail
https://www.uswheat.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2019-WQIT-Thumbnail-photo.jpg 350 350 actualize https://www.uswheat.org/wp-content/uploads/USW-Logo-Full-Color.png actualize2019-01-04 20:59:192019-01-04 20:59:19Latin American Holiday Traditions Help Inform Wheat Breeders

Wheatletter Sidebar

Quick Links

  • Newsroom
  • Wheat Letter Blog
  • News Releases
  • Videos

Wheat Letter Related Blogs

A no-till wheat field in Nebraska shows rows disappearing into a vanishing point in the background.
Market and Crop Analysis, Plant Breeding Innovation, Supply and Demand, Wheat Industry News, Wheat Production and Harvest

Wheat Industry News

News and Information from Around the Wheat Industry   Speaking of Wheat “In my view,…
MORE
March 30, 2023
https://www.uswheat.org/wp-content/uploads/Hard-Red-Winter-Nebraska-Pete-Miller-2021.jpg 1200 1600 Steve Mercer https://www.uswheat.org/wp-content/uploads/USW-Logo-Full-Color.png Steve Mercer2023-03-30 12:27:272023-03-30 12:27:27Wheat Industry News
Photo shows a tractor and seeding implement in the distance with new furrows where wheat was planted in the foreground to suggest prospective plantings.
Hard Red Spring, Hard Red Winter, Market and Crop Analysis, Soft Red Winter, Supply and Demand

Perspectives on March 31 Prospective Plantings and Stocks Reports

Each year, on March 31, those who grow, trade or import U.S. agricultural commodities look…
MORE
March 29, 2023
https://www.uswheat.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/19-HRW-OK-Peters-12-scaled.jpg 1707 2560 Steve Mercer https://www.uswheat.org/wp-content/uploads/USW-Logo-Full-Color.png Steve Mercer2023-03-29 10:36:252023-03-29 10:36:25Perspectives on March 31 Prospective Plantings and Stocks Reports

Stay up to date on wheat industry news!

SUBSCRIBE

Think Farm Export Programs Don’t Matter? Think Again.

GET THE REST OF THE STORY

Our Story

  • About USW
  • Dependable People. Reliable Wheat.
  • Board of Directors
  • Staff Directory
  • Office Locations

Market Information

  • Market Information
  • Price Reports
  • Price Charting Tools
  • Supply and Demand
  • Commercial Sales

Crop Quality

  • Crop Quality
  • Harvest Reports
  • Hard Red Winter
  • Hard Red Spring
  • Hard White
  • Soft White
  • Soft Red Winter
  • Durum

Working with Buyers

  • Working With Buyers
  • Customer Conferences
  • Wheat Classes
  • Wheat Glossary
  • Wheat Grade Factors
  • How to Buy
  • Ask the Expert
  • Resources

Who We Represent

  • Who We Represent
  • Board Meetings
  • State Wheat Commissions
  • Partners
  • Trade Activities

Policy

  • Policy
  • Trade Negotiations
  • Trade Barriers
  • Innovation and Sustainability
  • Food Security and Assistance
  • Public-Private Partnership

News

  • Newsroom
  • Wheat Letter Blog
  • News Releases
  • Videos

DTN Wheat Detail
DTN Corn Detail

2008-2013 U.S. Wheat Associates. All Rights Reserved
Privacy Policy | Non-Discrimination Statement

Scroll to top