The Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee

Colorado wheat growers indicated their top priority for Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee (CWAC) funding is research. CWAC has emphasized that priority by not only increasing the research investment at CSU by nearly 500 percent from 2006 to 2009, but also by establishing a research reserve in case a poor crop year decreases assessment funding substantially.

For fiscal year 2009, CWAC established base funding for CSU wheat research in the amount of $387,053, not including additional grant-in-aid funding of $41,172 from industry partners.

In addition, CWAC also established a separate reserve of $400,000 to ensure continuous and uninterrupted funding of this research. Click here to read more about CWAC funding of wheat research at CSU.

Some of the research activities at CSU funded by CWAC include:

• Research to develop new improved hard red and hard white winter wheat varieties with genetic resistance to the Russian wheat aphid and herbicide resistance to winter annual grasses (jointed goatgrass, downy brome and volunteer rye).

• Drought and high temperature stress tolerance research to incorporate these traits into adapted wheat varieties, a marker assisted selection program to allow more rapid development of wheat varieties with desired trait combinations, wheat quality improvement through evaluations of milling and baking performance of Colorado wheat varieties and experimental lines and the crop testing program to evaluate existing and experimental wheat varieties.

• Brown mite research, the wheat pathology program for the management of disease, insect and weed infestations and weed science test plot research on existing and emerging annual and perennial weed problems.

• The Cancer Prevention Laboratory to conduct wheat crops for health research.
  

In addition, CWAC is a member of U.S. Wheat Associates (USWA), the worldwide export marketing organization that represents Colorado and 16 other major wheat producing states. More than eighty percent of Colorado's and fifty percent of U.S. wheat production is typically exported. Our membership in USWA provides export market promotion, particularly important to Colorado, where 80 percent of the wheat crop is exported. USWA works in over 100 countries to emphasize the reliability of U.S. wheat and help overseas buyers source the wheat they need.

CWAC participates in the Trade Team Program, which brings foreign wheat trade teams to Colorado in cooperation with U.S. Wheat Associates. This past marketing year CWAC hosted a trade teams from Nigeria, the largest buyer of U.S. hard red winter (HRW) wheat for seven consecutive years.

CWAC is a member of the the Wheat Foods Council, for the promotion of domestic wheat consumption throughout the United States. Domestic "food use" accounted for 41 percent of total wheat usage in the 2008-09 marketing year.

The Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee believes that continued and balanced investment in research, domestic, and export promotion is the best investment for Colorado wheat producer's two cents per bushel. We value your input and thank you for your continued support in both good and difficult times.