KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, US — Representatives from across the wheat value chain will gather in mid-February for the Wheat Quality Council’s annual meeting and technical conference to discuss the latest industry developments in genetics, yield, quality, sustainability, milling and baking.

The annual WQC event is set for Feb. 21-23, 2024, at the Olathe Conference Center at Embassy Suites in Olathe, Kansas, US. The meeting’s first sessions are for the WQC executive committee and board of trustees. 

On the agenda for Feb. 21 are two wheat quality meetings specific to wheat classes. The hard winter wheat meeting will include a presentation from chairman Mark Hodges, executive director of Plains Grains, Inc. and Oklahoma Genetics, Inc., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, US. Hodges, a longtime advocate for Oklahoma wheat, received the 2021 Distinguished Service Award from the Oklahoma Wheat Growers’ Association. The hard spring wheat quality meeting follows featuring chairman Josh Weaver of Bay State Milling Co., Quincy, Massachusetts, US.

A WQC Speakers Forum the afternoon of Feb. 22 will be moderated by Jim Peterson, policy and marketing director with the North Dakota Wheat Commission, Mandan, North Dakota, US. Eight industry professionals are set to participate:

• Jane Blum Demarchi, president of the North American Millers’ Association, Washington, DC, US, will offer an update on miller activities in 2023-24.
• Rasma Zvaners, vice president of government relations at the American Bakers Association, Washington, DC, US, will present an overview of association activity and the commercial bakers’ perspective.
• Christine “Chris” Kirby, executive director of the Home Baking Association, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, US, will present her first annual update on HBA activities since assuming the position Nov. 1.
• Lauren Sprung and James Scher of ADM Milling Co., Decatur, Illinois, US, will speak about meeting environmental responsibility goals through regenerative agriculture.
• Anne Osborne, National Wheat Foundation project manager with the National Association of Wheat Growers, Washington, DC, US, will update attendees on the national wheat yield contest.
• Romulo Lollato, an extension agronomist specializing in wheat and forages and an associate professor at Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, US, will address testing wheat lines for yield and quality under contrasting management practices.
• Rodney Wallace, president of the Foundation for Innovation in Healthy Food, will provide an update on Coalition for Grain Fiber activity.
• Lucas Haag, an agronomist with K-State Research and Extension and an associate professor at Kansas State University, will present “Extension Efforts for Yield and Quality.”

Day two of the annual meeting is to conclude with dinner and a presentation from Reid Christopher, executive director of the South Dakota Wheat Commission, Brookings, South Dakota, US. Two morning sessions on the meeting’s final day, Feb. 23, will feature a review of lines entered for hard spring wheat quality testing moderated by Brian Walker of BW Consulting, Minneapolis, former technical director with Miller Milling Co. That session will be immediately followed by the review of lines entered for hard winter wheat quality testing moderated by Vance Lamb, technical service manager with Ardent Mills, Denver, Colorado, US.