From the desk of Jay Minton:

May 5, 2008

Foreign Material 

According to grain grading standards, foreign material is defined as “all matter other than wheat that remains in the sample after the removal of dockage and the removal of shrunken and broken kernels.

Foreign material presents a challenge in achieving high grades for wheat because the standard tolerance for foreign material is so low.  This tolerance is low especially because it is virtually impossible to remove foreign material from wheat.

To grade number one hard red winter wheat the sample must not contain more than 4/10 of a percent of foreign material.  In order to grade number 2, the sample must not contain more than 7/10 of a percent foreign material.  To grade number 3, the sample must not contain more than 1.3 percent foreign material.

In our area the common foreign material in wheat is rye.  Some fields that I drive by appear to have a lot of rye.  Discounts for rye (foreign material) are pretty severe based on the fact that it takes very little to harm the grade on otherwise good heavy wheat without other grading factor issues.

For the 2008 wheat harvest, any loads of wheat with over 5.0 percent foreign material will be subject to rejection.  The reason for this policy is that a wheat sample with at least 5.1 percent foreign material automatically grades as sample grade wheat.  Acceptability of wheat loads over 5.0 percent foreign material will depend on the additional amount of foreign material.  Discounts are in place for foreign material and are always subject to change. 

Sincerely,

Jay Minton

General Manager