Dive Brief:
- Kansas State University and General Mills, Inc. have formed a partnership aimed at developing strains of wheat that have beneficial properties in terms of nutrition, milling, and baking.
- The partnership will span several years and provide Kansas State with $400,000 to develop wheat research projects at the university.
- Both General Mills and the university are giving staff time and prowess and matching dollar-for-dollar for the research project. According to Ag Professional, "Kansas State is providing money awarded by the Kansas Department of Commerce to leverage strengths in food and agriculture."
Dive Insight:
This wheat research could benefit both Kansas farmers and consumers in the long run. Farmers could enjoy superior high-value, contract acres of wheat crops while consumers could have access to wheat-based products with less additives and more vitamins and minerals. This could address some of the food problems the world currently faces.
Eric Jackson, a geneticist and systems biologist with General Mills Crop Biosciences, said, according to Ag Professional, "With consumer food values changing and popular trends leading the consumer away from grains, General Mills thought it was a critical time to expand our research and develop a plan for the future of wheat. In partnership with Kansas State, we’re connecting wheat variety development with targeted, novel consumer quality."
Grains, particularly wheat, have been in the news lately, mainly due to lawsuits filed against Monsanto. Earlier this week, Monsanto came to a settlement agreement to resolve a slew of lawsuits regarding experimental genetically-modified wheat that resulted in temporary wheat export limits. In November, Monsanto resolved another lawsuit regarding the same GM wheat contamination.