This is driving me nuts!!

Cash Wheat this morning is as much as $0.35 CHEAPER than Corn out in the Texas Panhandle..

( http://www.norag-us.com/markets/cash.php?location_filter=18366 )

Even Clear up to us it's at Parity which when you figure it on a per lbs basis.. (not to mention that higher starch content..) it's STILL Cheaper.

We had a bumper crop of LOW Protein Wheat this year in the Southern High Plains..

( https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/crops/article/2017/06/29/wheat-yields-vary-widely-low-protein )

"Most of the wheat is fairly low protein -- for the second year in a row," said Kansas State Extension Agent Tom Maxwell. "They [end users] are really hunting for some protein."

LOW PROTEIN TROUBLE

With the Kansas winter wheat harvest in full force, most reports of protein levels are varying between 9% and 11.5%, Maxwell said. Oklahoma State University Small Grains Extension Specialist David Marburger said he thinks the state's wheat crop will average below 11.5%.

That's well below the 12% to 13% desired by flour mills, said DTN Cash Grains Analyst Mary Kennedy.

"The higher the protein content, the harder and stronger the flour and the more it will produce crusty or chewy breads," she explained. "The lower the protein, the softer the flour, which is better for cakes, cookies and pie crusts."

When the winter wheat crop came in with low protein in 2016, flour millers had more options for blending it with higher-protein wheat. They could use the high-protein spring wheat crop or they could look to the 2015 winter wheat harvest, which averaged 12.3% protein, Kennedy said.

There are probably Nine or Ten Ethanol plants.. Four in the Texas Panhandle.. Four in SouthWest Kansas.. and probably about Five more sited along the periphery which could ADD this LOW Protein wheat to their grinds.. ( http://www.ethanolrfa.org/resources/biorefinery-locations/ )

The one Closest to me..  Pratt Energy.. ALREADY takes wheat as Scoular loads out unit trains on the Grain Handling side of the facility.. they ship on average a unit train.. every.. week to ten days...??  More or Less.  So Sending a little Low Pro Wheat over to the plant would be a relatively minor thing to do.. They ALREADY HAVE IT on site..  Most of the others might have to actually recieve the grain but for upwards of $0.35.. you'd think that would "work."

They Grind Wheat in Canada.. ( http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/3624/move-over-corn-wheat%27s-king-in-western-canada )

And we've Toyed with grinding wheat before in the US.. ( http://www.ethanolproducer.com/blog/article/2013/03/extending-corn-supply-with-wheat-not-so-easy )

March 11, 2013

In my April feature article that’s just gone to press, I learned that sorghum can be substituted for corn pretty easily. At least one Kansas producer says they can see no difference in ethanol yield when using corn or sorghum, and in fact, dump the two grains in the same bin. The only difference is that grain sorghum needs a small amount of enzymes added to deal with the tannins. Grain sorghum production, though, is pretty much limited to the High Plains states where most of the ethanol producers already freely mix the two feedstocks as needed.

Wheat is another matter. Reuters reported last week that Poet Biorefining-Portland (Ind.) was bidding on soft red winter wheat. They quoted Chris Manns, president of Traders Group Inc. as saying, "They can do up to 20 percent with wheat before having to completely shift their plant over. I have heard it is being done in some areas depending on price and availability."

Checking out the plant’s web page, sure enough, on Monday it showed cash wheat bids at $7.11, reporting the April futures at $7 and a basis of 11 cents. That compares with their bid on April corn at a cash price of $7.63, reporting a 54 cent basis on the April futures contract of $7.08.

Wheat isn’t going to be an easy substitution like grain sorghum, though. While it is, indeed, the dominant feedstock in several regions such as western Canada and the UK, those plants are designed to handle wheat.

A few years back I wrote about Canadian ethanol producers’ use of wheat. The prairie provinces are well-known for the production of hard red spring wheat – the high protein, strong gluten wheat used for bread flour. Farmers were hoping for a new market for their weather-damaged HRS wheat. Ethanol producers, though, were trying to convince farmers to raise lower-protein soft white winter wheats. If you’re a baker, you’ll know why.

The high protein and strong glutens are what makes bread dough elastic, helping the sponge raise nicely as the yeast do their work and release CO2.  Soft wheats are used for cakes and crackers where you want a different texture. Hard wheats have protein levels of 12 to 15 percent (NOT this year.. LOT's of Sub 10%!!) while soft wheats tend to be 8 to 10 percent protein. While corn has protein, it doesn’t have gluten. (A website on celiac disease points out that what the corn industry calls corn gluten is a misnomer, it isn’t the same as wheat gluten.)  

The protein and gluten in wheat increases the viscosity of the mash in the ethanol process which is dealt with through the addition of the right enzymes. The higher protein and lower starch levels also increase the nonfermentable solids. That, in turn, affects the back end of the process because the greater amount of wet cake increases the load on the centrifuges and driers. One positive side to mixing corn and wheat is that the corn oil helps with wheat’s tendency to foam. In fact, many Canadian producers use a small amount of corn to deal with the foaming issue.

The Sorghum crop this year is going to be smaller on acres.. due to fears of the Sugar Cane Aphid.. which has played out ALOT less then previous years..  Given the economics we may see a bump in Sorghum acres next year.. However, for now.. Bids for Corn and Sorghum are identical at many locations.. near me.  We WILL grind Corn.. due to the dry summer in parts of the state.. the Dryland Corn yields are coming in Lower than expected.. we are Half done already and delivering to some feedlots where their bins are empty and the load goes straight to the grinders.. "got any more?"

Meanwhile piles of low protein Wheat sit outside some country elevators.. waiting on a market..

I realize that this isn't going to work everywhere.. but here in the SouthWestern Plains.. CERTAINLY in the Texas Panhandle.. it WILL WORK!!

The actual process.. is not that hard to switch some over.. as noted above.. using corn AIDS in the processing of Wheat.

Furthermore, unless we get RID of this Low Protein wheat.. the cash price will stay low.. farmers will not fertilize AND we'll END UP WITH MORE LOW PROTEIN NEXT YEAR!!

So it's the LOGICAL thing to do.. on so many fronts.  As I have laid it out here..

If we need to get EPA to give some sort of waiver.. or whatever if there are regulatory hurdles.. we need to do this NOW!!

We'll find out tomorrow.. but the Last WASDE CUT Wheat feeding.. ( which probably is not the case now..) and had rather large stocks.. Once we get the Wheat BASIS to firm.. currently as much as $1.10 or more UNDER.. that itself will take wheat back out of the grind.. However, I suspect that we could easily cook about 75.. 100.. 125 million bushels of Wheat as Ethanol..

.. and we should do it.

later.