Okay, you know that bread and pasta and cereal and such are made with wheat (well, at least most of them are).  And you know wheat is grown by farmers.  But where do the farmers get it from?  Well, they either replant some of the wheat they already grew, which will eventually start growing unevenly due to genetics (harken back to your high school genetics lessons and remember that with each generation you have chances for all the traits of the parents to appear, even though they may have been hidden in the parent).  OR  the farmer can buy new seed wheat.  And is it all the same stuff?  Oh, no!

Last week I accompanied Roy's mother to the annual "Field Days" hosted by our neighbors, Dick and Diane.  They farm test plots of wheat for a company that breeds and sells it.  The company comes up with various breeds every year and gives them to Dick to plant, grow, and see how they produce.  Then towards the end of the growing season they invite people from all over to come take a look at their test plots. 

(Roy's standing over my shoulder telling me that its important for me to point out that all the wheat grown in this area is hard winter wheat, as opposed to soft.  It's high in protein (ie gluten) and is best used for breads.)
 

These are the test plots of wheat.  Each rectangle is a different variety.

So here's all the folks out in the field looking at the wheat test plots (that would be hard winter wheat!) and listening to the man in the hat.  He's telling them the names of the wheat, like winterhawk, jagger, keota and many more.  He goes over their disease resistance, insect resistance,straw strength, height, yield, performance (how much wheat they produced last year), protein content, millability, etc.  There is no perfect wheat.  And what is a good wheat in Kansas may be a terrible wheat in Colorado because of the different climates, soil, pests - you get it.  So farmers have to shop every year for the wheat that they think will make the best crop for them! The guy in the hat also describes their color, red or white, which partially determines how they can be used.  The red wheat makes your typical brown whole wheat loaf.  The white wheat makes those pretty white whole wheat loaves that you've always wondered how they could make so white (I personally thought it was some legal loophole the manufacturer found so they could use the label "whole wheat", but I was wrong).  Surprisingly enough, white wheat is not very popular among farmers.  They would love to grow the wheat that makes pretty white loaves, but its more complicated than just that. After wheat is harvested it is taken to a grain elevator where it is unloaded and stored.  Each type of grain has to be stored separately.  The common problem that arises with white wheat is that the local cooperative (co-op for short) that owns that elevator doesn't want to set aside space for the white wheat.  So where is the farmer going to take it and who is he going to sell it to?  The farther the wheat has to be taken to reach a buyer, the less money the farmer makes because of fuel costs.  Farmers already make very little money on the bread you eat (see here for the shockingly piddly amounts), so every mile a  crop has to travel makes their vision blurry with dollar signs.  So you can see how most farmers would find it just too much trouble to raise white wheat. After the talks about the wheat growing in the field comes the best part - food!  A lot of events around here end with food.  And what a good idea it is, especially when the food is being cooked on a grill made out of an old car!  This is also a good time to chat with the farmers and learn things about wheat (like why no one wants white wheat).

Can you see the man in the distance in the hat?  He's the one explaining each wheat variety.

As a little note, I'd like to make my plug for local food co-ops and farmers markets.  Both are ways to give consumers the freshest produce and give farmers more of the profit.  No middle-men, no manufacturers, no trucks hauling hard green tomatoes half-way across the country with a fuel usage at 5 miles per gallon . . . Nope, none of that nonsense.  Just you and the farmer and good, locally grown food.  Of course you'll still have to go to the store for your mangoes and avocados - sorry.