Wheat Foods Council Launches Online Tool for Farm-to-Fork Education
by ND Wheat Posted on 11/5/2009
Wheat Foods Council launches How Wheat Works, an interactive, online multimedia program that delivers a farm-to-fork education on wheat, enabling a better understanding of its nutritional value. By participating in How Wheat Works, participants of all ages can virtually grow, harvest and mill their own kernels to create their desired wheat food. For each participant, 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.
"How Wheat Works is an exciting educational opportunity to take wheat kernels from farm to fork in a virtual world, while providing wheat flour, which holds endless meal possibilities, for needy U.S. troops and their families," said Carol Pratt, M.S., R.D., Wheat Foods Council nutrition expert. "This unique mixture of subjects like agriculture, milling, baking and nutrition allows people to better understand wheat's role in a healthy diet."
How Wheat Works combines 3-D animation, still photography, video and factual information to chronicle wheat's path from field to table. Each of the program's four phases - growth, harvest, milling/baking and the grocer's aisle - takes just a few minutes to complete, while the program spans the course of four days. 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.
"This is an exciting and fun tool for people of all ages to understand the whole process of food production from farm to fork," according to Erica Olson, NDWC marketing specialist, "Wheat is the number one crop grown in North Dakota and it is important to continue to educate consumers where their food comes from."
Following the completion of each phase, activity suggestions allow participants to extend their learning experience through preparing wheat-based recipes, exploring wheat grown in their area and viewing harvest videos from "America's Heartland," a magazine-style television series focused on American agriculture. A quiz tests the participant's wheat knowledge at program end, at which time the Council donates two pounds of flour to Operation Homefront with help from their members at ADM and ConAgra, two of the world's largest millers.
To extend the program to youth organizations and classrooms, the Council developed educational guides, located at www.wheatfoods.org, that allow group leaders and educators to activate How Wheat Works with their audiences. Activity ideas utilize program content and resources from the Council's extensive library as well as member and partner materials.
"Teaching people how a whole or enriched grain food comes to be can shed new light on nutritional implications and result in informed food choices," said Pratt. "This is a fun learning experience that everyone can enjoy, whether it's a mom teaching her child proper nutrition, a student researching for a school project or a baking enthusiast learning more about one of their most utilized ingredients."
### About the Wheat Foods Council The Wheat Foods Council is a nonprofit organization formed in 1972 to help increase public awareness of grains, complex carbohydrates, and fiber as essential components of a healthful diet. The Council is supported voluntarily by wheat producers, millers, bakers and related industries.
About Operation Homefront Operation Homefront provides emergency and morale assistance for our troops, the families they leave behind and for wounded warriors when they return home. A nonprofit 501(c)(3), Operation Homefront leads more than 4,500 volunteers in 30 chapters nationwide, and has met more than 105,000 needs of military families. Operation Homefront also hosts the Web community Operation Homefront Online. For more information, please visit www.operationhomefront.net and www.homefrontonline.com.
For more information, contact us at ndwheat@ndwheat.com
North Dakota Wheat Commission - 2401 46th Avenue SE, Suite 104 – Mandan, ND 58554-4829
Phone: 701-328-5111 - Fax: 701-663-5787
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