Miller Magazine Issue:114 June 2019

22 NEWS JUNE 2019 Ardent Mills to close four mills Ardent Mills, a premier flour-milling and ingredient company, announced four plant closures. The com- pany, a joint venture between ConAgra Foods, Cargill Inc and CHS Inc, said the closures were necessary due to “anticipated demand and to enhance the efficiency of the Ardent Mills network.” “Ardent Mills will operate and invest in the rema- ining 35 flour mills across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The company’s leadership is making every effort to help impacted team members, including placement at other Ardent Mills locations, career sup- port, and other transitional assistance.” the company said in a release. The four plants impacted are Macon, Georgia, Loudonville, Ohio and Red Lion, Pennsylva- nia, which will close effective June 30, 2019; Rush City, Minnesota will close the first quarter of calendar year 2020. Ardent Mills did not specify how much capacity will be lost with the closures and did not provide details of any job losses at the mills. “These decisions are difficult, especially because of the impact on our valued team members. However, this is a critical step to put greater focus and investment on the rest of our plants,” said Dan Dye, CEO of Ardent Mills. “Our growth plan calls for strategic investments in our unmatc- hed network of community mills; these changes allow us to grow accordingly and better meet customer needs.” torical introgression suggests that a more strategic use of wild emmer should have value for future whe- at improvement.” Fritz noted that K-State scientists have been using wild emmer in developing germp- lasm for new wheat varieties in projects funded by the Kansas Wheat Commission and the university’s Wheat Genetics Resource Center. The work by Akhunov and his research team allows breeders to “evaluate the diversity in wild emmer and be intentional and strategic” in how they employ desi- red traits in new wheat varieties, according to Fritz. “As we move forward, we can apply what has been learned here to also focus future efforts on traits related to he- alth and nutrition that wouldn’t have been direct targets of historical selection,” he said. Akhunov adds: “For the first time, we have described how wild emmer’s gene- tic diversity contributed to the development of bread wheat. And what it’s done since humans domesticated wheat is it’s helped to develop a better crop.” K-State’s study was funded by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative’s competitive grants program, administered through the U.S. Department of Agricul- ture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and part of the International Wheat Yield Partnership, which Akhunov said aims at increasing the genetic yield po- tential of wheat using innovative approaches.