K-State, General Mills to Develop New Wheat Varieties

As consumer trends shift, leading consumers away from traditional grains, General Mills is expanding its research and development platform in partnership with Kansas State University. The two have formed a $400,000 multi-year partnership that will develop new wheat varieties that will offer better nutritional value and better milling and baking properties.

The project aims to directly benefit Kansas wheat farmers through its contribution of higher value wheat options that will offer better yields, contain more vitamins and minerals that are needed in diets in developing countries, and will need less additives during processing, improving the function of whole grain products.

The research agreement structure is as a dollar for dollar match, with both General Mills and the university contributing expertise and staff to the project. Since the formation of the project, General Mills has placed two full-time scientists at the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center on Kansas State University’s Manhattan campus.

Kansas State offers expertise in wheat development from genomics to baking processes to this project, as well as to the five-year, $5 million Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Applied Wheat Genomics funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

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