USW promotes wheat to international markets

GREENVILLE, Ill. — During his travels across the world advocating U.S. wheat, international customers at times ask Ralph Loos about his own ties to farming.

“I’m an Illinois farm boy myself. I grew up in Perry County with hogs, beef, wheat, corn, soybeans, the whole mix. My family still farms there,” said Loos, U.S. Wheat Associates communications, multimedia and global outreach director.

“I’ve been in seven countries already this year, and I love it when an international wheat buyer or a wheat miller asks where I grew up and if I have any connection to farming, I can always tell him the stories from Perry County.”

Loos, a Southern Illinois University graduate, was at the USW informational booth during the recent Illinois Wheat Association’s Summer Wheat Forum.

USW promotes the reliability, quality and value of all six U.S. wheat classes to wheat buyers, millers, bakers, food processors and government officials in more than 100 countries around the world.

Its mission is to develop, maintain and expand international markets to enhance wheat’s profitability for U.S. wheat producers and its value for their customers.

Funding is made possible through checkoff dollars, goods and services from 17 state wheat commissions and cost-share grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service.

“U.S. Wheat Associates is the international market and trade development organization for the U.S. wheat industry. We have offices in Washington, D.C., and in Portland, Oregon, and we have 13 international offices around the world,” Loos said.

“Basically, we work in more than 100 countries now, developing the market for U.S. wheat. We also have technical staff that works with our existing customers to increase demand for U.S. wheat around the world.”

Challenges, Successes

The challenges continue in global wheat trade, but there is also some good news in that realm.

“As with any commodity, be it wheat, soybeans, corn, beef, pork, there are always trade challenges, things we have no control over as U.S. farmers and as the U.S. agriculture industry as a whole,” Loos said.

“We monitor those trade activities, be they tariffs, be they shipping challenges, anything else, and our real role is to keep U.S. farmers informed on what’s happening in Washington, D.C. So, as you can imagine, we’ve been really busy the last six months, answering questions.

“Fortunately, for the wheat industry and for U.S. wheat farmers, none of the moves to this point have affected trade as far as wheat goes. We haven’t seen any. We’ve had a lot of questions, but to this point we’re reporting that there hasn’t been any effect on trade.

“There have been some nervous customers, but to this point, no effect. Now, that could change for better or for worse.”

New agreements were recently signed with Indonesia and Bangladesh.

“Both agreed to purchase more U.S. wheat in coming years. That’s good news. That’s a result of a lot of hard work we’ve done. Now, they’re not huge markets, but the Asian market as a whole is a piece-by-piece endeavor. So, we’re happy to see that. We expect more to come from that,” Loos said.

“We also keep our huge customers and buyers — Mexico, Japan, the Philippines— informed at the same time.

“So, in the wheat industry itself, there’s not been a lot of negative news like there has been for other commodities and other products. We’re keeping our fingers crossed and keeping our nose to the ground.

“There are great opportunities. Wheat is one commodity that we have a lot of competition, and it’s all supply and demand with wheat. The good thing is that our customers prefer the high quality that we have and the variety.

“We grow six different classes of wheat in the U.S., which a lot of people aren’t aware of. Each of those six classes has their own customer base, has their own demands around the world.

“So, we try to keep a finger on all that, and it remains a supply-and-demand game for us. The fortunate thing is that U.S. wheat farmers, including those here in Illinois, always produce, no matter what the weather, no matter what the conditions are, and that’s one good thing we can take for those buyers in those 100 different countries is that if you need the wheat, if you want the wheat, it’s going to be there.”

Wheat Checkoff

Illinois wheat growers approved a wheat checkoff program for the state this past April. Farmers can opt to pay 1.5 cents per bushel, which will be used to fund research, market development and promotional activities benefiting the entire wheat industry.

Nominating petitions are now available for eligible wheat producers interested in serving on the Illinois Wheat Development Board. The election will be held Oct. 30.

“We’d love to have Illinois as a member. We have 17 states that have a checkoff and that are members of U.S. Wheat Associates,” Loos said.

“We’re keeping the Illinois wheat farmer informed that this opportunity is out there. A lot of that checkoff money will go to research, which is understandable and admirable, because we and our customers around the world rely on the research that has done to produce a better and higher quality crop. But we’d love to engage Illinois and see if we can make something happen there.

“We’re here providing information on what we do for wheat farmers. We’re not selling anything. We’re kind of the bridge between the U.S. wheat producer and the customer, the miller overseas and the baker overseas. We try to make that trade happen on behalf of the U.S. wheat farmer.”