World Grain - July 2012 - 19

A ﬂour art museum story | No. 5

newsreview
Bayer opens wheat breeding station in Germany
MONHEIM, GERMANY — Bayer CropScience has opened a new European Wheat Breeding Center in Gatersleben, Germany. The center will be used for developing wheat varieties with higher yields and enhanced properties for the central European market, as well as for coordinating all of Bayer’s wheat-breeding activities in Europe. “The inauguration of the European Wheat Breeding Center is another important milestone for our activities in the area of seeds and traits,” said Professor Wolfgang Plischke, member of the Bayer AG Board of Management responsible for innovation, technology and sustainability, at the opening ceremony. “It is an enormous challenge for scientists all over the world to safeguard and improve the global food supply.” Elmar Weissmann, head of the European Wheat Breeding Center, said important research targets include increasing yields and promoting efﬁcient nutrient use. The center also will examine ways to adapt wheat varieties to climate factors such as drought or heat. The center will use a range of technologies, including marker-assisted breeding to accelerate the implementation of the declared breeding objectives. Bayer said the Gatersleben site is suitable for this work due to its good infrastructure, soil conditions and climate. In May, Bayer unveiled plans to build a North American wheat breeding station in Nebraska. Other local stations are planned in Europe and Australia as well as, in the medium term, in Asia and Latin America.

What Cleopatra knew about ﬂour.
She was said to bathe in milk and honey – Cleopatra the 7th, perhaps the most beautiful of all Egyptian queens. But grain and ﬂour also played a major role in her kingdom. Egypt was ﬂooded twice a year by the Nile; the rest of the time it was arid. Large granaries stored grain to tide the population over during the dry seasons. The granaries also stored enough primitive emmer wheat to feed the huge numbers of workers who toiled over centuries to build the pyramids. In ancient Egypt, bread was baked in large-scale bakeries. From pictures and statues of women at work, we can reconstruct the individual steps in bread production. It seems that the Egyptians enjoyed very good bread, because they invented sourdough, which makes bread easier to digest and also much tastier. As we see, people who understand grain and ﬂour are always successful – and have been for thousands of years. www.ﬂour-art-museum.de www.muehlenchemie.de
For more information, see Page 106.

Lansing, Olam form joint venture to merchandise grain
OVERLAND PARK, KANSAS, U.S. — Lansing Trade Group LLC, an independent commodity merchandising company, and Singapore-based Olam International Ltd., a global integrated supply chain manager and processor of agricultural products and food ingredients, have agreed to form a 50-50 joint venture to originate and merchandise Canadian grains and oilseeds. The joint venture will focus on merchandising Canadian grains and oilseeds to meet the food and feed demand in North America as well as international markets. “We believe the individual company strengths of Lansing and Olam together will be able to deliver innovative solutions from origin to destination for the western Canadian grain customers much like Lansing has done in Ontario since those markets were opened up to free trade,” said Bill Krueger, president and chief executive ofﬁcer of Lansing Trade Group. KC Suresh, president and global head of Olam’s grains business, added, “The joint venture will leverage Olam’s in-house milling demand in Africa, its rapidly growing global trading platform and customer base along with Lansing’s deep knowledge of North American market. This will enable the joint venture to become a valuable contributor in the liberalized market.” Lansing Olam Canada is expected to begin operations in July.

CWB expands grain delivery points across Western Canada
REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA — Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) President and Chief Executive Ofﬁcer Ian White announced on June 21 that new agreements have been reached with six companies, including Viterra, to handle grain for farmers who want to participate in the popular CWB pools. More agreements are expected to be reached shortly with other Prairie grain-handling companies, he added. “CWB is ready for business, with partners who are committed to helping us serve Prairie farmers and their global grain customers,” White said. “Farmers want to do business with CWB and take advantage of our unparalleled expertise in risk management and marketing. Their success will be our success.” Companies who have agreed to handle CWB grain to date — including the new agreements — operate over 120 country elevators. The announcement includes an agreement with Viterra, one of Canada’s largest grain companies. CWB has also reached agreements with Mission Terminal, West Central Road and Rail (WCRR), Delmar Commodities, Linear Grain and Agro Source. These companies join Cargill and South West Terminal, which reached agreements with CWB earlier this year. “The handling agreements we have reached to date provide farmers with the assurance of multiple locations to deliver their grain, with more on the way,” White said.
www.World-Grain.com / World Grain / July 2012

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World Grain - July 2012

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