Mid-August 2006
Ohio’s Source for Ag Information
IP wheat can increase profit
BY MATT REESE
Poor wheat. Corn is king, soybeans
are Ohio’s top crop, and, oh yeah, and
there’s some wheat grown in Ohio too.
On many farms, wheat — if it is included in a crop rotation at all — has taken
a back seat in the crop rotation to its
more prominent row-crop counterparts.
This is not the case, however, for Mark
Wachtman, vice president of the Ohio
Wheat Growers Association, who
grows 750 acres of identity preserved
(IP) wheat on his Henry County farm
with his father and two brothers.
“We’re on a three-year rotation with
corn, beans and wheat. Wheat has
equal footing with corn and soybeans
for us,” he said. “I’ve grown some IP
wheat for Nabisco off and on for that
last five years or so. We also grow seed
wheat for Pioneer, so we’re IP wheat
across the board. As a rule we are
happy with growing IP wheat because
in the past it has made us more money
than we would’ve gotten from the elevator. We’ve been tickled pink with our
IP wheat.”
Wachtman has grown several different varieties through the years for IP
programs, including Pioneer’s 25R26,
that presented an exciting opportunity
several years ago for farmers interested
in an IP premium offered by Nabisco in
Toledo. The soft red winter wheat variety was a bit of a fluke for use in cookie flour because its gluten was too
strong, but it was just that unique
property that made it a desirable choice
for other types of products that had
previously required hard wheat
imported to Ohio. As a result, a premium could be offered to farmers in Ohio
who could grow the wheat locally to
reduce delivery costs.
Unfortunately, 25R26 is no longer
a success.
“Pioneer 25R26 appears to be a dead
variety for Ohio. I don’t think the seed
is even available because farmers don’t
want to grow it anymore. There was a
bit of a premium, but the yield potential is no longer competitive so it didn’t
Mark Wachtman grows 750 acres of identity preserved wheat on his Henry County farm. With the premiums offered for his specialty wheat and seed wheat production, it
has been a profitable crop through the years.
work out, but it got people starting to
look out for this hard gluten in soft
wheat. In terms of traits, the one that
has the most interest right now is
strong gluten, like in hard wheat, but
in soft wheat varieties,” said Clay
Sneller, OARDC wheat breeder. “When
you talk about quality in wheat you
basically look at how much water it
absorbs and its gluten strength.
Traditionally, for soft wheat products
like cakes and cookies, we want low
water absorption and weak gluten. For
hard wheat we generally want a lot of
water absorption and strong gluten for
whole grain breads. We have some
unique soft wheat varieties in Ohio
with low water absorption and strong
gluten, and that’s very good for crackers. Many breeders are now looking for
new varieties with this combination of
strong gluten and good yields because
premiums are being offered.”
While research for new varieties
with these traits is ongoing, there are
currently a couple of options for Ohio
growers interested in an IP premium
for soft wheat with strong gluten.
continued on page 15