Wheat: Extraction

Why most wheat sleeps under snow before harvest

Wheat was first cultivated in the Fertile Crescent more than 10,000 years ago (Geman, pdf p. 161). Winter wheat is sown in autumn, lies dormant under snow and is cut in early summer; about three-quarters of US wheat is this type (Geman, pdf p. 163). Spring wheat suits colder northern plains in Canada, the Dakotas and Siberia. Classes matter: hard red wheats make bread, soft wheats make cakes and noodles, and durum makes pasta. Post-war high-yield varieties bred under Norman Borlaug spread worldwide in the 1960s (Morgan, pdf p. 331). Milling separates flour from bran and germ, which go to feed.

Wheat grows from the tropics' cool season to the edge of the boreal forest, so farming systems vary widely. The big split is water. Irrigated wheat in India's Indo-Gangetic plain, China's North China Plain and Egypt gives steady, fairly high yields on small farms. Rainfed wheat on huge mechanised farms in Russia, Kazakhstan, Canada, Australia, Argentina and the US Plains gives low yields per hectare but cheap grain and most exports. Western Europe gets the highest rainfed yields from long, mild seasons and heavy fertiliser use. Every route ends in a flour mill, where extraction rates decide how much flour, bran and feed each tonne yields.

Methods compared

How each method works

Wheat follows rice or maize in a double-cropping rotation, watered by canals and tubewells. Farms are small, but seed, fertiliser and power are subsidised and governments guarantee a price. India and China both buy large shares of the crop for public stocks.

Stable yields and food security; heavy groundwater use and heat risk at grain fill in March.

Wide seeders and combines cover thousands of hectares with few workers. Inputs per hectare are low and yields depend on rain. These countries export most of what they grow, so their weather sets world prices.

Lowest-cost export grain; output can swing 20-30% with drought.

Long autumn-sown seasons, fertile soils and high nitrogen rates give the world's highest rainfed yields. France is the EU's biggest exporter, mainly to North Africa.

High yields; exposed to fertiliser costs and wet harvests that downgrade milling quality.

Roller mills crack the grain and sift out bran and germ in stages to make white flour, semolina or maida. Indian chakki mills grind the whole grain between stones for atta. Pasta plants mill durum into semolina.

Low-margin, high-volume business; quality depends on protein and gluten strength.

Who does it: global

Who does it: India

India is the second-largest grower (14.2% of world output in 2024, FAOSTAT) and is almost self-sufficient. Exports have been restricted since May 2022; USDA projects only 2.0 Mt of exports in 2026/27 against 0.24 Mt in 2025/26.