Arlington, Virginia
November 12, 2009

-- The newly redesigned U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) Web site unveiled today provides a wider variety of valuable business information in a format that makes it more accessible than ever to wheat buyers, the U.S. wheat industry, and media outlets. The revised site, posted at www.uswheat.org, features new content, such as a “Speaking for Producers” section, which provides information about producers featured in the current USW market development campaign and an enhanced "Buyer’s Guide" designed to streamline valuable information needed to assist importers of all six classes of U.S. wheat.  

The new design supports and continues to build on the USW international focus linking U.S. wheat and wheat products to their producers, the world’s most reliable suppliers of high-quality wheat to buyers, millers, and wheat food processors worldwide.  

“USW customers have told us they want closer ties with U.S. producers,” USW Communications Director Steve Mercer said.  “We recognize the importance of making personal connections throughout the supply chain, and have been mindful of that as we constructed the new site, which is funded in part by and speaks for producers.”

One of the first things apparent on the new site is that it delivers nearly twice the amount of information available on the organization’s previous version. Not only is there new content, but a variety of new Internet tools make it easier to follow USW news, reports, and policy positions. From the home page, the site now features links to RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds for USW reports and Wheat Letter, the biweekly, Internet-based USW publication, including a tool to request subscriptions. Users may establish links to USW's Flickr^® photo sharing site, Twitter^® feed, and YouTube^® video postings. The site also includes communications-enhancing links that allow visitors to share USW information through their own Internet-based social media channels.

The new site continues to offer a robust supply of important information about the U.S. and global wheat market. This includes weekly U.S. wheat export basis and FOB prices with an interactive charting feature, commercial export sales results for U.S. wheat, a Supply and Demand presentation, Crop Quality reports, Harvest reports, and daily futures prices for U.S. wheat classes, corn, and soybeans.

Nearly half of the U.S. wheat crop is exported annually making the United States the world’s largest wheat-exporting country. A news-rich "Influencing Trade Policy" section covers issues such as competitiveness, food aid, biotechnology, and U.S.-Cuba trade issues. In addition to accessing USW policy position statements and information on bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, visitors can easily track USW work on the GSM export credit programs, sanitary and phytosanitary issues, the elimination of export state trading enterprises, and much more.

U.S. Wheat Associates is the industry’s market development organization working in more than 100 countries on behalf of America’s wheat producers. The activities of U.S. Wheat Associates are made possible by producer checkoff dollars managed by 19 state wheat commissions and through cost-share funding provided by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. For more information, visit www.uswheat.org or contact your state wheat commission.

Website: http://www.uswheat.org

Published: November 12, 2009