An exciting thing happened in the wheat world this month, a new virtual educational campaign titled How Wheat Works was launched.
How Wheat Works is an extension of the popular Urban Wheat Field campaign held last year in New York City. The Urban Wheat Field was designed to teach “city-slickers” the ways of wheat from farm-to-fork. Over the course of three days, more than 10,000 consumers and children attended the program and walked away with a new appreciation and understanding of the production and processing of wheat.
At the conclusion of the program, the Wheat Foods Council set out to make the event accessible to all consumers, at any time. This led to the development of the online program, How Wheat Works.
How Wheat Works combines 3-D animation, still photography, video and factual information to chronicle wheat’s path from field to table. Participants of all ages are asked to virtually grow, harvest and mill their own kernels to create their desired wheat food. Interactive opportunities include the selection of the type of wheat to be grown and wheat flour to be milled, based on the participant’s preferred wheat food creation.
Each of the program’s four phases – growth, harvest, milling/baking and grocer’s aisle – takes just a few minutes to complete and spans the course of four days. The four-day duration gives users the sense of the time, on a considerably condensed scale, it takes for the wheat life cycle to complete. The timing also keeps consumers engaged for an extended period of time.
To add the icing on the cake, the program includes a charitable component and for every user, the Council will donate two pounds of flour, up to 90,000 pounds, to Operation Homefront, a non-profit that provides assistance to needy U.S. troops and their families.
So be sure to take a few minutes to check out the program, for yourself or with your children. You might just learn a little more about wheat, and support our troops in the progress.
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