Great Plains Analytical Laboratory, Cereal Ingredients, Inc., and their CEO Robert Hatch, have committed a $100,000 donation to the Kansas Wheat Commission Research Foundation in support of impactful wheat research. The gift will be directed toward ongoing research aimed at developing wheat varieties that result in high-quality baked goods. Hatch is Chairman and CEO of Cereal Ingredients, Inc., a specialty food ingredients manufacturer he founded in 1990, and CEO of Great Plains Analytical Laboratory, an analytical laboratory founded as a response to a need in the grain, flour, baking and food industries for a high level of service, response time and expertise.
The Kansas Wheat Commission Research Foundation differs from the wheat checkoff. While the checkoff does fund wheat research, it also is used for marketing, promotion and education. Donations to the Kansas Wheat Commission Research Foundation will be used only for wheat research.
Through its Fields Forward fundraising campaign, the Kansas Wheat Commission Research Foundation is raising funds further wheat research efforts led by K-State faculty that increase the profitability of farmers while improving the quality of wheat for millers, bakers and consumers.
Robert Hatch
“We greatly appreciate this support of the wheat and baking industries by Great Plains Analytical Laboratory, Cereal Ingredients, Inc., and Robert Hatch,” said Ron Suppes, chair of the KWC Research Foundation. “For many years, Mr. Hatch has demonstrated his passion for increasing the quality of wheat as a food ingredient.” Recent technological breakthroughs in wheat genetics research will allow for accelerated delivery of high-value traits to market. In 2017, the reference map of the bread wheat genome was completed by a consortium of international scientists. This new map, in conjunction with emerging technologies like gene editing, will assist in identification and integrations of high-quality end-use traits into new wheat varieties. This gift will be used to help support this research.
“The team conducting this research includes some of the brightest scientists in the wheat research community,” said Aaron Harries, V.P. of Research and Operations for the Kansas Wheat Commission. “Depending on the discoveries made, this project has the potential to revolutionize the way farmers grow wheat for added value.”
About the KWC Research Foundation
The Kansas Wheat Commission Research Foundation was established in 2011 as the official research fundraising organization for the Kansas Wheat Commission. Chartered by the state of Kansas as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research corporation, it is an independent entity; separate from the KWC. While the wheat checkoff does fund wheat research, it is also used for marketing, promotion and education. Tax-deductible gifts made to the Research Foundation are used solely for the purpose of funding wheat research.
About Great Plains Analytical Laboratory
Great Plains Analytical Laboratory, Inc. (GPAL) is a privately held, employee-owned, analytical laboratory founded in 1993 as a response to a need in the grain, flour, baking and food industries for a high level of service, response time and expertise. In 2012, the Lab moved from its original location to a much larger facility with an increased emphasis in food safety, and in 2015, GPAL completed a multi-million-dollar expansion of the Microbiology Lab.
About Cereal Ingredients, Inc.
Cereal Ingredients, Inc. is a privately held, employee-owned specialty ingredients manufacturer that was established in 1990 by Robert Hatch to research, develop and market unique, new food ingredients. The Company holds multiple worldwide product and process patents.