‘Band of Bakers’ to fight for increased U.S. wheat supply

‘Band of Bakers’ to fight for increased U.S. wheat supply Frustrated by dwindling supplies of wheat, the American Bakers Association will send its so-called “Band of Bakers” to Washington on March 12 to meet with newly confirmed U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer and other senior White House officials.
   “Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures,” said Robb MacKie, the association’s president and chief executive officer, in a recent statement. “ABA has repeatedly urged the White House, USDA and Congress to provide meaningful relief to alleviate the growing wheat crisis; unfortunately those calls have gone unheeded.
   “Now is the time for all bakers, from all organizations, to join ABA in coming to Washington to deliver this important message personally,” he said.
   The ABA noted that in three weeks since mid-January flour prices had increased $10. The association blames the wheat supply squeeze on the farming industry’s increased corn production. The recently passed Energy Act encourages even higher corn-based ethanol production in the coming years.
   In June 2007, the ABA asked USDA to approve an early out of non-environmentally sensitive acreage from the Conservation Reserve Program.
   “We alerted the USDA a year ago that wheat was going to be in short supply, and now three of the five wheat categories are extremely short,” MacKie said. “This is raising such serious domestic food security issues that ABA is requesting USDA curtail wheat exports until bakers and other domestic users are guaranteed the supplies they need.
   “Other countries are stockpiling their strategic grain reserves; the United States should do the same until USDA can ensure adequate supply,” he said.