Wheat is the world's most important agricultural commodity. In Europe, where wheat is the main staple, bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) covers the majority of land on which wheat is cropped. Wheat breeders and technologists have contributed greatly to the continued success of bread wheat and its products. The `bread-making quality' of a wheat variety can be described in relation to the processing its kernels must undergo to make a good bread. Bread wheat kernels must be suitable for proper milling into a flour that can produce a dough capable of becoming fine bread. The type of bread varies depending on local bread-making practices. Part I of this book contains a study of the anatomy and chemical composition of wheat kernels, and of the fundamental difference between `soft' and `hard' kernelled varieties. It relates these characteristics to the processes of milling, dough-making and manufacturing of bread, and to biscuit and pasta making. The genetic basis for these characteristics is illustrated, and assay methods for characterizing wheat varieties - ranging from Saunders' chewing test to the most recent developments in glutenin and gliadin research - are evaluated. Part II briefly describes - country by country - how bread-making quality has been integrated into wheat-breeding programmes throughout Europe, and how breeders have attempted to resolve the conflict between yield and quality. It describes how quality wheats `travelled' around the world - from their endogenic source in Eastern Europe to North America, and back again to Europe. This explains how specific genetic material can appear in the pedigrees of varieties grown in a wide range of agro-ecological zones. In addition to giving an interesting historical survey, the book points the way forward for breeders' efforts in the future. Bread-Making Quality updates and interprets knowledge in a way that makes it particularly accessible for food technologists, breeders, students, and teachers.

Considers legality of Commerce Dept regulations requiring at least half of agricultural commodities sold to the Soviet Union and other Communist countries except Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia to be shipped in U.S.-flag vessels.

Agriculture, forestry and fi shery statistics provides a selection of recent, topical data. Information is presented for the European Union (EU) and its Member States, and is supplemented (when available) with data for the United Kingdom, EFTA members, candidate countries to the EU and potential candidates. This publication aims to cover some of the most popular data within the domain of agriculture, forestry and fi shery statistics as well as some of the wider food chain. It may be viewed as an introduction to European statistics in this area and provides a starting point for those who wish to explore the broad range of data that are freely available on Eurostat's website.

In this 1999 book, Karl Gunnar Persson surveys a broad sweep of economic history, examining one of the most crucial markets - grain. His analysis allows him to draw more general lessons, for example that liberalization of markets was linked to political authoritarianism. Grain Markets in Europe traces the markets' early regulation, their poor performance and the frequent market failures. Price volatility caused by harvest shocks was of major concern for central and local government because of the unrest it caused. Regulation became obsolete when markets became more integrated and performed better through trade triggered by falling transport costs. Persson, a specialist in economic history, uses insights from development economics, explores contemporary economic thought on the advantages of free trade, and measures the extent of market integration using the latest econometric methods. Grain Markets in Europe will be of value to scholars and students in economic history, social history and agricultural and institutional economics.