We select our winter wheat varieties to give us the best yield and quality needed for our markets, growing milling wheat for use of bread or biscuits and feed wheat to provide a healthy diet for animals. With the aim to establish these crops in the autumn to give a healthy and strong plant going into the winter, monitoring the growth and the health of the plant through until harvest in summer months. We yield map our fields for yield data and weigh the crop into store.
Wheat is a universally acknowledged part of the human diet, and has been for over the last nine thousand years. Over thirty thousand varieties of wheat are produced nowadays, which can be found on every continent although wheat originates from Euphrates valley in Western Asia. We are now used to producing flour by grinding wheat, however initially wheat was eaten raw. These are just a few interesting facts about the cereal grain, and some other interesting facts include:
Some people are aware, but wheat is actually used when producing several alcoholic drinks, including whiskey, vodka and gin. Ethanol produced from the wheat can be used as bio-fuel too. All types of wheat can generally be separated into two significant groups – spring and winter wheat. Winter wheat is normally planted at autumn and harvested during the spring, and spring wheat is planted during the spring and harvested during the summer. Also, due to celiac disease, 1% of the human population can’t eat wheat-based products. This is a disorder that results from intolerance to the wheat protein called gluten.
Wheat starch, which may come as a surprise to many, is used in the industry of plastic bags and paper, and for the production of glue, adhesives and building and textile materials. Wheat is a member of the grass family that produces a dry, one-seeded fruit commonly called a kernel, and one pound of wheat contains seventeen thousand kernels. Wheat isn’t only a good source of food, it is also good for producing a variety of goods. Other than paper as mentioned, wheat can be included in the production of hair conditioners, medical swabs and even kitchen cabinets.
