Wheat Promotion Board Invests $78K in Arkansas Wheat Research, Outreach

By John Lovett

The Arkansas Wheat Promotion Board awarded $78,533 in grant funding to five research projects with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture aimed at strengthening wheat production, profitability and market opportunities in the state.

Herbicide-resistant weeds, pest management, relay cropping, education programs to improve yields and using electricity to extract wheat protein were among the projects awarded.

“Funding from state commodity boards, such as the Wheat Promotion Board, allows our researchers to conduct proof of concept and applied verification research that ultimately impacts our producers in a positive way,” said Paul DeLaune, head of the department of crop, soil and environmental sciences for the Division of Agriculture and the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

Often, commodity board awards lead to additional funding opportunities, further discovery and development, increasing the return on investment for the state’s farmers, DeLaune noted.

“The investment made by the Wheat Promotion Board is highly valued and imperative to providing the latest discoveries directly to our producers,” he said.

The awards included:

• $20,000 — “Evaluation of Safeners to Enable New Herbicide Uses in Wheat,” by Bob Scott, extension weed scientist, and Jason Norsworthy, Distinguished Professor of weed science, both in the department of crop, soil and environmental sciences.
• The project investigates wheat tolerance and weed-control effectiveness of key herbicides, both with and without seed-treatment safeners. Through field and greenhouse trials, researchers will address challenges posed by resistant ryegrass and other problematic weeds.
• $17,679 — “Diversifying Arkansas Wheat: Chemical and Water-Free Electrostatic Fractionation for High-Functionality Wheat Protein,” by Mahfuzur Rahman, assistant professor of food science in the department of food science.
• The project seeks to develop a dry electrostatic fractionation method that isolates protein-rich flour from Arkansas-grown wheat while keeping the parts of wheat protein that make dough strong and stretchy. The goal is to find new and more valuable uses for Arkansas-grown wheat.