British Milling Company Gives High Marks to U.S. Spring Wheat—As Long As It Stays Non-GMO

By Tracy Sayler

The consistency and quality of American spring wheat has improved remarkably over the years, and is now preferred by Rank Hovis Ltd., the United Kingdom’s largest miller. However, the U.S. risks losing Rank Hovis as a customer if and when biotech wheat enters the American grain stream.

So says Jim Shine, technical director with Rank Hovis for 34 years, who was invited to speak at the annual Wheat Quality Council meeting held recently in Kansas City to relate what he likes—and doesn’t like—about U.S. spring wheat. His participation on the program was sponsored by the Minnesota Wheat Research and Promotion Council and wheat commissions in the Dakotas.

In the 1960s, the grist at Rank Hovis was generally about 40% Canadian, 20% Soviet Union, 20% Argentinean, 10% Finnish, 5% Australian, and 5% native English wheat.  “We had strong colonial ties, but tended to forget you (the U.S.) were one of those,” he quips.

Thus, Rank Hovis imports higher protein wheat to meet its needs. The company uses about 1.5 million tons (about 55 million bushels) of wheat annually.  Of that, about 1.1-1.2 million tons are produced domestically.  About 100,000 tons are imported from other European countries, and 200,000 to 300,000 tons are imported from “the American continent,” says Shine, which means their wheat purchases don’t preclude Canadian wheat. 

Still, the demand for high protein spring wheat seems to be rising in England, and the U.S. has been successful in increasing its exports there markedly since the mid- 1990s. In 1994, U.S. wheat market share in England was 0.1%, but in the last few years it’s been closer to 10%, all hard red spring.

Competition for the UK flour market is fierce, says Shine, making it difficult to make a profit.  Standard white bread consumption growth in the UK is flat, and a growth market, (“if there is one,” says Shine) is in specialty breads such as high quality white bread, whole wheat and malted breads, which need higher protein to carry the bran. “That’s why we need imports,” he says.

Twenty years ago, dark northern spring wheat from the U.S. was “bad news,” says Shine. Quality was inconsistent, even within a shipload, and the wheat would contain screenings or dockage. “I felt if we wanted to buy 2,000 tons of dust, we didn’t have to go all the way to America to buy it, especially at wheat prices.” The protein of U.S. spring wheat was also overly strong for their baking processes, he adds.

Now, however, “you have it right,” says Shine, and he credits AGP and Cenex/Harvest States as two exporters who have “done an exceptionally good job for us. They have taken the time to ask us what we want, tolerate our idiosyncrasies, and give us exactly what we specify, time after time.”

He also credits an overseas variety analysis project through U.S. Wheat Associates for helping him to gain a better understanding of the characteristics of American spring wheat varieties.  USW is the organization that promotes the use of American wheat around the world, funded by the wheat checkoff in the Dakotas, Minnesota, and other wheat-producing states. 

“I can characterize a lot of varieties but knew little of the U.S. varieties, because for a period we weren’t buying any.  But now we’re getting to understand the varieties.  The (USW overseas variety analysis project) is of benefit to us, because it helps us define what we want.  We like Gunner, Oxen, Forge, and probably don’t like 2375 or Russ a great deal.  The mix we’re getting suits us at the moment, and it’s consistent.”

Shine says that in his opinion, the quality and performance of U.S. spring wheat at Rank Hovis actually holds an edge over Canadian wheat.  American spring wheat has good extraction potential, and better endosperm color than Canadian wheat, he says.  “Your wheat mixture makes good high quality products, which is the growth sector that we foresee in the UK market,” says Shine. Ironically, it is now Canada that has spring wheat varieties that are a bit too strong for the milling processes at Rank Hovis. “They certainly have a few varieties we don’t like much at all,” says Shine.

He expects Rank Hovis will specify spring wheat by variety in the future, as the company learns more about what works best in their milling processes.

Europeans are “positively paranoid” about food safety, “and we have good reason to be,” says Shine, citing (before foot and mouth disease broke out in England) salmonella outbreaks, dioxins in feed, and mad cow disease as examples of food scares concerning British consumers, “and in virtually every incident, the relative ministry involved initially denied it.”

Shine says Rank Hovis customers often ask for microbiological and pesticide residue background on grain milled by the company. Most farmers in the UK—if they want to sell what they produce—voluntarily pay fees to participate in accreditation programs to assure they use consumer-friendly farming practices and keep good pesticide records, all of which are independently audited.

The meticulousness carries over to biotechnology.  “It’s safe to say Europeans by and large don’t want it,” says Shine, who gets letters from consumers, asking Rank Hovis to guarantee that it doesn’t use biotech ingredients. “It isn’t my job to ask them what they should have or argue with them. It’s my job to give them what they’re going to pay for,” he says.

U.S. wheat has a good safety record, says Shine. “We buy U.S. wheat with a maximum 1 ppm vomitoxin (DON) and we get it, safely within that level. You’ve got a great record on pesticide residues.” 

To change the British attitude toward biotechnology, however, would require a major breakthrough that would provide an obvious benefit to society. Under the current political climate, however, Shine does not foresee Rank Hovis accepting anything less than a zero tolerance for biotech grain.

“We would tolerate none of it. Not one percent, not one half of a percent. No GM wheat is what we want. We’ll buy wheat from Australia, Kazakhstan, or use native wheat and supplement the protein with vital wheat gluten if we have to,” he says.  “It doesn’t matter what I think.  It’s the British public that wants to buy our flour.  They say they don’t want it, and the supermarkets won’t have it.  That drives us.”