• Will buyers accept lower falling numbers? “That will decrease the reputation we have in the Pacific Northwest and take away the differentiation we have for high quality,” Jessup said. “If we end up losing that distinction, all of a sudden instead of selling premium wheat, you just become part of the price culture and you’re going to have to be competitive with price to market your grain.”
• What made 2016 so different? Falling number problems last year were more widespread, with lower lows and lower highs, Jessup said. Typically, lows are in the 250-280 range, and highs are 400-450. In 2016, the highs were 330 to 350 and low readings varied.
The problem has occurred before, but it was less widespread, and exporters were better able to blend wheat with low falling numbers with wheat that had higher falling numbers, Jessup said. That’s harder to do when more wheat has low falling numbers.
Don Potts Regional, manager of the state grain inspection service, said so far his office has run 22,000 tests. During the harvest, they received 600 requests for tests per day, but had the capacity to do 200 tests a day when running at maximum capacity — 16 hours a day, seven days a week.
Potts’ office is still receiving 10 to 20 test requests per day.
• Will storing the grain improve my falling number? The grain can improve, but must be kept at a higher temperature over a long period of time, which increases the risk of insect getting in. Researchers urge farmers to keep their expectations realistic.
If a falling number is very low, storage doesn’t have an impact.
“We’ve been testing (a 144 falling number) sample for three years, every other month, and it doesn’t change,” said Arron Carter, Washington State University winter wheat breeder.
• Do fungicides have an effect on falling number? Carter said no.
• Can the wheat be blended? Falling number doesn’t blend linearly like proteins or test weights, where a 10 percent protein mixed with an 11 percent protein results in a 10.5 percent blend. Falling numbers is a logarithmic blend. Blending wheat with a 350 falling number and wheat with a 250 falling number results in wheat with a 290 falling number. A 400 falling number and a 200 falling number results in a 260 falling number. A 450 falling number and a 150 falling number gets a 210 falling number.
“You go higher and lower, the overall blend actually works lower,” Jessup said.
• Is this unique to the PNW? It’s a global problem, said Washington Grain Commission chairman Mike Miller. Australia began dealing with it nearly two decades ago.
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