CONSTRUCTING WHEAT DIFFERENTIATION IN WESTERN WASHINGTON AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SYSTEMS

Abstract

Grains, such as wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), are vital components of total farm productivity in western Washington; however, the monetary return of wheat production has been low historically. Increased demand for value-added grain-based products for human consumption, such as regionally produced, nutritionally enhanced, and artisan quality wheat products, can offer farmers an opportunity to sell into higher value markets than current commodity streams. Meeting that demand requires appropriate varieties, best crop management practices, consistent supply, and often new infrastructure and distribution networks. The dissertation adds to the body of work that seeks to understand and develop these differentiated wheat products and systems. Chapter 1 places value-added wheat production into the context of the disappearing agriculture of the middle emphasizing the benefits and challenges of production and products differentiated by social, environmental, and wheat quality characteristics. Chapter 2 identifies unique germplasm from a collection of Nordic wheat accessions containing wildtype NAM-B1 for the development of early maturing high quality hard red spring wheat varieties for western Washington and the Alaska Interior; time to wheat senescence is shown to correlate negatively with yield and positively with grain protein, iron, and zinc content. Chapter 3 reports the limited improvement in wheat quality via grain aging, suggesting that new, small, and midsized mills without controlled storage facilities prioritize blending of varieties and source location to achieve quality consistency. The last two chapters explore the mechanism by which scientists can understand their own personal biases and those of the larger research community. Chapter 4 centers on Jean-Michel Basquiat’s drawing, Untitled (Charles Darwin) 1983, to illustrate how art can reveal biases in the sciences, such as positivism and scientism, and of individual scientists, such as proletarianism and the ideal of autonomy. Chapter 5 analyzes women in genetics and the US Midwest farm in the 20th century revealing the ideal of the family and the tension between exploitation and empowerment for women in science and agriculture. In total the dissertation adds to the research necessary for development of differentiated wheat systems in areas outside major production areas and the underlying assumptions of the research