|
|
|
|
The Port of Duluth has a keen interest in grain-use trends, including new uses for crops. With more than 225 million bushels of agricultural commodities routed each year to Canadian, U.S. Great Lakes and overseas ports, changes in the bulk commodity business can also mean shipping and handling changes, as well as new opportunities, for the Duluth-Superior waterway. Corn can count industrial starch, ethanol and high fructose corn syrup as among its new-use successes, and has made advancements in developing degradable packaging. The soybean industry has soy ink, crop spray adjuvants and, most recently, soy crayons, to its credit. Other developments include soy-based adhesives, lubricants and solvents. Food will always be the major focus of wheat production: wheat is the only grain whose primary purpose is to feed humans, and it is the staple food of about 35 percent of the world's population. Only a fraction of U.S. wheat production - less than five percent - is currently used for industrial products, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Still, the search for new uses of wheat is moving beyond the research and development phase and into commercial channels. The work is focused on three areas: gluten, starch and straw. |
Cement Goes In, Cement Goes Out Groups Meet to Discuss Port Capital Needs Midwest Energy Breaks Own Record Museum Welcomes 10 millionith Visitor Who Says Indiana Harbor Isn't Romantic An Anomaly Wrapped in an Enigma? |
| The physical
attributes exhibited by wheat gluten and wheat starch set wheat apart from all other
cereal grains. The ability of wheat gluten to form an elastic mass when hydrated, to
generate films that can be expanded, to form stable structures when heated and to absorb
and hold water puts wheat into a class of its own. Wheat starch also possesses unique
attributes, particularly when compared to corn. Its whiteness, granule shape and size,
ability to form strong and elastic gels and gelatinize at a lower temperatures enables
wheat starch to be preferred for a number of end uses. Technological advancements in recent years also made the production of wheat gluten and wheat starch more economical, with better product yield and lower manufacturing costs. On paper, opportunities for expanding wheat utilization beyond its traditional use in bread products abound. These opportunities have met obstacles in the marketplace, however. The marketability of wheat starch is limited by the fact that corn is cheaper and because the market for corn starch is more established. In the case of gluten, market potential is handicapped by international trade politics. Existing tariffs in the European Union (EU) make it possible for wheat processors there to protect their starch markets and sell wheat starch within the EU for twice the world price. They then use their starch profits to subsidize the sale of the co-product, wheat gluten, in world markets at prices below the cost of production. The EU practice is a threat to premiums paid for high protein wheats produced by U.S. farmers and is thwarting wheat gluten R&D in the United States because investors are unwilling to create markets merely to serve European gluten. It's a threat as well to current U.S. gluten processors; if driven out of business by heavily subsidized gluten imported from the EU, a domestic market for 50 million bushels of U.S. wheat would be eliminated. The U.S. wheat gluten industry has filed a section 301 petition, which provides the means for U.S. businesses and workers to seek U.S. government intervention in gaining relief from unfair foreign trade practices. Changes in trade policy, and continued R&D of the wheat starch market, will do much to improve the market potential for wheat gluten and wheat starch. Right now, however, the biggest star in the new-use spotlight is not the wheat kernel, but wheat straw. "The wheat industry is learning that straw is not a waste. It's residue that has value, and more wheat producers are focusing on straw to get a higher value from the crop," says Brenda Finkenbinder, a value-added agriculture consultant and crop producer from Crookston, Minn. Indeed, a recent study by the National Association of Wheat Growers Foundation indicated that the use of straw in building material applications holds great potential, which can offer direct value-added returns to growers. While wood prices and the demand for particle board are rising, the technology of using wheat straw to replace wood-based materials is improving and the market for straw-based building materials is becoming more established. Straw board holds a screw better than many wood-based materials and is lighter and easier to transport. A new industry devoted to manufacturing straw-based building materials is springing up. Farmers in close to a dozen communities in North Dakota are looking into forming farmer-owned cooperatives to make straw board. Iso Board, based in Winnipeg, Man., and Prime Board, Wahpeton, N.D., are among a handful of North American companies already in operation. Even lumber companies such as Boise-Cascade and Willamette Industries are exploring the use of straw as a partial replacement for wood-based materials. In the manufacturing process, straw is chopped finely and compressed into particle board using MDI resin, a strong chemical adhesive. Since wheat gluten has excellent properties as a strong bonding agent, industry watchers say wheat gluten could someday be used in the straw board manufacturing process, resulting in building materials made entirely from wheat. This article was written by Tracy Sayler, a communications specialist with the Minnesota Wheat Research and Promotion Council, Red Lake Falls, Minn.
|
|
eeping
agricultural surpluses in check, protecting the environment and creating the potential for
enhancing profits by creating a higher value has the growers of most major crops searching
for non-traditional uses in non-traditional markets. 
