Wheat Grain

Wheat grain as traded is the threshed, cleaned caryopsis of common wheat. Commercially it is divided into classes that reflect kernel hardness, colour, and growth habit — hard or soft, red or white, winter or spring — because these traits determine milling and baking behaviour. Durum wheat, used for pasta, is a different species and is traded as a separate commodity.

Most wheat grain is milled for food. Milling separates the kernel into flour (the endosperm), bran (the outer layers), and germ (the embryo) — flour is the primary product, while bran and germ are genuine co-products with their own feed and food markets rather than waste. Grain that does not meet milling requirements is commonly sold as feed wheat, and a portion of every crop is retained or sold as seed.

• Food — milled into flour for bread, biscuits, and other baked goods
• Feed — grain not meeting milling specifications, fed to livestock
• Seed — retained or certified for planting the next crop
• Industrial — starch and gluten extraction, and fermentation feedstock

Wheat grain is graded against published standards that measure a defined set of attributes. Moisture governs whether a lot can be stored safely; test weight is a bulk-density measure long used as a general soundness indicator; protein content strongly influences milling and baking performance and is often priced separately from grade. Damaged kernels, foreign material, and dockage all reduce grade, and sprouting or mould can render a lot unsuitable for milling.

Grades are jurisdictional and versioned: the same lot can grade differently under different national standards. Meeting a grade is a commercial description, not a food-safety clearance, and not a guarantee of suitability for a particular mill or contract.

Wheat grain is hygroscopic and biologically active: stored too moist or too warm it respires, heats, and supports storage moulds and insects. Safe storage therefore depends on drying to a moisture content appropriate to the intended storage duration and climate, then keeping the bulk cool and monitored. It moves and stores in bulk — farm bins, silos, warehouses, barges, and vessels — which makes lot identity, sampling, and segregation by class and grade central to the trade.