Putting a local twist on durum wheat in New Zealand

New Zealanders could be tucking into artisan pasta, pizza and bread made from durum wheat grown in the Wairarapa if a new project indicates there's a market for it. The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is contributing $100,000 through its Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund to a $151,000 project led by the Foundation of Arable Research (FAR) that will evaluate the opportunity for a grower-owned value chain to supply the growing demand for high-end durum wheat flour in New Zealand. The project builds on the findings of a 2017-2020 project funded by MPI's Sustainable Farming Fund, which looked at alternative crops that could be profitable for the Wairarapa as a response to the pea weevil incursion. That project demonstrated that the warm, dry summers in the Wairarapa and some of the soils are ideal for growing high-quality durum wheat. "There's a big buzz about it already," says Ivan Lawrie, FAR's general manager business operations. "We sent samples of milled flour to ...