Recognizing that farmers and their downstream customers share a desire to see the best possible qualities in wheat, Dr. John Oades developed and implemented a new way for overseas customers to have direct input in U.S. wheat quality. He called the program Overseas Varietal Analysis or OVA.
"Competition in the global market was increasing and U.S. wheat production costs are typically more than they are for competitors," said Oades, who retired as a USW vice president in 2011. "We had to keep improving our quality in ways that our milling and baking customers wanted."
Farmers in the United States grow six different classes of wheat. Within each class are many different "varieties" developed by public or private wheat breeders.
The OVA program is a highly cooperative effort to select newly released U.S. wheat varieties, mill that wheat and have overseas customers analyze the flour and compare its performance to their standards. USW works with public universities, state wheat commissions and USDA officials help collect, mill, inspect and test samples of these varieties. USW then sends those samples to international millers and bakers for analysis and comparison with local standards. USW compiles the results in annual reports shared with cooperators overseas and with wheat breeders in the United States.
"The program has grown every year," said Steve Wirsching, USW vice president and director of the USW West Coast Office, who has been responsible for the OVA program since 2009. "This year, there are 32 overseas technical laboratories, located in 18 different countries, testing 314 different flour samples. In January 2014, we will ship more than 2,000 kilograms of flour overseas for testing. That is a lot of flour!"
Industry groups and wheat breeders use OVA-generated data to develop wheat quality targets and then make periodic adjustments for each wheat class. State wheat commissions use the data to develop preferred varieties lists to let growers know which varieties are in demand.
"Overseas millers and bakers like the program because they get to look at new wheat varieties to gain insight to what varieties will be in the market one to three years in the future," said Wirsching.
USW complements OVA with other programs, including technical exchange conferences and wheat quality improvement teams. Wirsching said these activities further strengthen the communication between overseas customers, wheat farmers and wheat breeders.
Technical exchange conferences allow overseas cooperators to provide direct feedback to wheat breeders about testing results. Since 2006, conferences have been held in North Dakota for varieties in the hard red spring (HRS) class, in Washington state with a focus on varieties of soft white (SW) and in Ohio to discuss varieties of soft red winter (SRW).
Quality improvement teams take U.S. wheat breeders to overseas markets where they meet face-to-face with end-users and technical managers involved in testing the OVA samples. This program helps breeders understand the impact of new wheat varieties on wheat quality and competitiveness of U.S. wheat classes overseas.
"Wheat varieties that are good for the farmer should also be good for the miller and the baker," Wirsching said. "That is why USW will keep working to promote varieties that have disease resistance and good yield potential for farmers, but also the high milling and baking quality preferred by our customers."