Soft Wheat: View from France1 Jean-Claude Autran Institut National de la Rec herche Agronomique (INRA) Montpellier, France
At the outset it is important to note that in France wheat is 110 1 subdivided commercially into soft a nd hard kernel types. Because th is distinctio.n does not exist, my a rticle deals w ith French wheats (Triticale aestivum) in general. lncluded a re the subjects of production, import / export, usages, quality testing, and future trends.
Wheat Production France ran ks fifth in the world in wheat prod ucti o n, afte r the USSR, China, U.S., a nd lndi a (Table 1). lt is the largest producer of wheat in Europe (with about 40% o f a ll bread wheats)_and a central trading member of the· Europea n Economie Com mun it y (EEC). France occupies a key position in the wheat economy of Western E urope due to its geographical conditions, adequate soils, a nd techno logy of its farmers. The cereal sector is the backbone of French agricult ure a nd forms t he basis fo r its exporting status. France is now a lso the fo urth exporter of wheat grain a nd the first exporter of wheat n ou r in the world . The main wheat growing areas of
France a re indicated in Figure 1: Paris Basi n, Beauce, Brie, Picardie, East Ce ntral, West Central, a nd Southwest. Although wheat is grown in every department of Fra nce, t he 17 in the north supply 70% of the crop. French areas sown in wheat, yields, and production for 1983- 88 a re shown in Table 11. They are characterized as fo llows: 1) Highcr production in less area. Frenc h whea t production h as d ou bled in the last 60 years, and crop yie lds have increased 3.5 times, whi le the growing a rea has s h ru n k by 30 - 40% a n d no w comprises o nly one tenth of France (about 5 million ha o r 13 million acres). 2) Very intensive culti vation with a n average yie ld of 60- 62 q / ha (89- 92 bu / acre), which is still on a continuous increase (Fig. 2). The Paris Basin a nd th e n ort he rn areas produce ext re me ly hig h wheat yield s (higher than 100 q / ha or 148 bu/ acre in many places). ln the south , the yields are somewhat
Table 1. World Whcat Production, 1986-1987' Production (million to ns) Country USSR
China US/\
lndia EEC France Canada /\w,tralia 1
Presented at the Symposium on Soft Wheat al the AACC /\ nnual Meeting. San Diego, CA. October 9- 13. 1988
C> 1989. The American Association of Cereal Chemists. !ne.
Argen ti na Othcrs
Total
Arcas
Yicld
(%)
(q/ ha)
1986
1987 (Predicted)
18.9 30.4 23. 1 20.3 45.6 55.0 22.4 14.8 18.2
92.3 90.3 56.9 46.9 72.0 25.5 3 1.4 16. J 8.9 120.6
80.0 87.0 57.3 46.0 71.7 27.0 26.3 12.8 10.0 11 6.6
23.4
535.4
508
2 1.0 13.0 10.0 10.0 7.0
2. 1 6.0 5.0 2.0 26.0
229"
·'Source: Cham roux ( 1) bmillions ha CEREAL FOODS WORLD/667
3)
4)
5)
6)
lower owing t o hotter , dri er conditions, causing premature ripening. The average yields of the country could go above 80 q/ ha (1 19 bu / acre) towards the end of the ce ntury. Large variations in quality between regions (due to the relatively sma ll size of productive areas, compared to North America, Australia, or Argentina), a nd a strong seaso nal effect resulting in variable quality. No grading system equivalent to that of many other countries that can ma rket co nsistent and homogeneous wheats. Although excellen t in concept, the grading sys tem - a tt e mpted by ONIC (National Interprofessiona l Office of Cereals) to e n co urage the growing of high-quality wheatshas always found little comme rcia l acceptance in France because of these variatio ns in qual ity. French environmental conditions make it difficult to produce very strong and high-protein varieties with competitive yields. A few a reas (located in the south) are able to produce such varieties ( Prinqual, Florence-Aurore, Auba ine). But shipping costs may make them m ore expe n sive in P a ris th an imported wheats. On the other ba nd , when grown in the north, these varieties are infe rio r to those grown in the south . Importance of variety in the domestic grain trade. ln the past, millers
a nd other members of the wheat sector performed elt:ctrophoresis inspectio ns of varieties (Fig. 3) on 50-kernel wheat s amp les taken from as many as several thousand deliveries per year. However, both breeders' efforts and improved cultural techniques have made it possible to combine in a single variety seve r a l characteristics that looke d incompatible a few years ago, For instance, the new cultivars Apollo a nd C réneau can reach the same yield s as M onza, a hybrid-type wheat (5); even the good baking qu ality cultivars Récita l a nd Camp Rémy do not yield sign ificantly less than nonbaking wheats such as Arminda a nd Promentin. Although French wheats are more difficult to export than homogeneouS types from countries w ith an efficient grading system, French exports have increased considerably in the last years. ln 1987, they represented 14 million tons, two thirds of the total wheat produced, divided as follows: Table Il. Area, Yield, and Production of Whe a~ in France, 1983-1987'
To EEC countries (total tons)
6.3 million
lta ly Netherlands West Germany Belgium O thers
20.0% 5.4% 5. 1% 5.0% 9.4%
To non-EEC countries (total - 7.7 milli on tons)
USS R
27.8% 4. 1% 2.3% 1. 2% 19.7%
China Poland Egypt Others
About 4 milli on tons a re shipped to third world countries. As a consequence, France tends to import much sma ller amounts of strong wheats than in the past- only 100,000 tons (i.e., 0.3% of total production, or 1.1 % of d omestic usages).
Traditional Uses of Wheat in France Of every 100 tons of wheat produced in France, o n the average 55- 60 a re
q/lw oo ~~-~-~-~-~~,--.,.----.
Ycar
1983 1984 1985 1986 1987
/\rea (millions ha) 4.7 5.0 4.7 4.7 4.8 Yicld (q / ha) 52 66 6 1 55 56 Productio n (million tons) 24 .4 32.7 28.5 25.5 27.0
~ ·-~r--t---;--'!----;--1---r----;
70J----1--+-- ! - -- ; - - 4 - - - 1 - - +-
Wt---t---t~-+--+-~+--t-."'if_ ~-b~.rv ..-
: JO
•source: O.N.I.C. Sta tistics (3)
12·.J-Z
t---
,.O
Sco re:
zoo
1
~ m:~ -===r~;Ë-;;Ërr-----------------------------------
'~ l
Exported Cr ai n
9.3 -------------------------------------- Ani mai f eedstuff s 2. 7 --- - --------------------- ------------ - Hl scellancous 30. 8
----1HILLlllG1
100
\ { 9 . 7 ---------- ------ - ----- - Exportcd Flour • 21. 1 HOHE FLOIJRS 1
----1
17
10
\
111 . 1 2. 6
---- Bread --- - Biscuits, Bis cottes Confectionary 1. 3. --- - Clutcn/Starch 3. 1 --- - Hiscellaneous
14
16
Prolc•l n conlc n l (Il ,.. '). 7 )
Fig. 7. Rela tionsh ip be tween French baking score and protein content. Source: Martin (12).
Fig. 4. Soit wheat uses in France in 1987. Sources: ON IC (3) a nd Lacroze (6). Table Ill. Wheal Qua lity Required for Regislration in F ra nce'
w
Threshold of Yield"
Alveograph "
Baking score
190c;;
spccial baking
A
90 190'lé
Capitole Capi to le
BI B2
no 98 100
90Ç(
Talen t Talent
Cl C2
105 108
u nsu itablc for baking ' Source: C.T. P.S. ( 16) has % of the standard cutivar Capitole
Prolcin content•
2! 11 0 < 11 0
Class
Dl
02
105 108
fluor Q..Mlll)' Whc".at
Sltong ~l \'cr)' I OUCJf1 Douqh
llhcu ll ~ l ~pc
Vcry f
°MW'."A I
-ll!'.n~ lblr
Oouqh
Fig. 8. Aiveograph curves of differe nt wheat types. Source: Branla rd and Autran (13) .
CEREAL FOODS WORLD/671
Table IV . Baking Strcngth Doubling over a 30- Year Period ' Rcgistration Yea r 1933 1946 1950 1959 1964 1969 1973 1973 1977 1978 1980 198 1 1984 1986 1986
tant is a satisfactory ba la nce between the two main parametcrs: P (resistance to d o ugh deformat io n) a nd G (dough extensibility), the latter being perha ps more critical a nd so met imes a better indicator of F rench bread-ma king a bility tha n the W index itsc lf.
w
Major Cultivar
Alveograph
Vilmorin 27 Cappelle Etoi le de Choisy Cham plcin Capitole Hardi Talent Maris Huntsman Armi nda Fidel Camp Rémy Festival Moulin Thésée Réci tal
90- 100 120- 130 60-70 80-90 140- 150 160 130 70 120 140 180- 200 170- 180 180 180 220- 240
Recen t Trends in French Breadmaking and lheir Consequences for Wheat Quality Requirements Severa! impo rtant cha nges in French bread techn o logy occurred over the last decades. For insta nce, early in the l 950s the development of intensified kneading techniques bega n to bring new quality s pecifica ti o ns d e manding s tr o nge r flours. More recently, several other changes
•oata from Beaux (17) and Feyt (4)
Table V. Leading Bread Wheat Cultivars in France in 1987'
w
Quality Class
Cultivar Festiva l" Camp Rémyb Fidel Armi nd a Beauchamp Perncl" Talent Hard i" Moulin"
Score (1-9)
82
Baking Score (1-9)
Arca (million ha)
5.5 6.5 6
0.8 1 0.54 0.50 0.27 0.27 0.25 0. 18 0. 14 0. 13
6.5 6.5 5 5 4.5 6 4.5 7.5 6.5
BI
82 Cl B2 BI B2 BI BI
5 6.5 5 7 6
% 17.3 11 .4
10.6 5.8 5.8 5.4 3.8 2.9 2.8
·•Data from Glémas ( 18) " Rccommcndcd by the mil ling ind ustry
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