Photo credit: U.S. Wheat Associates.
In mid-March, a delegation of U.S. wheat farmers traveled to South Korea and Taiwan to see firsthand how their wheat moves from the fields to vibrant international markets. Organized by U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) and attended by members of the North Dakota Wheat Commission, the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers, the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee and the National Association of Wheat Growers, the board team’s mission provided a full-circle perspective on consumer trends and technical demands of some of the world’s most quality-conscious buyers.
“I’ve been involved with different grower groups throughout the years, and I always feel farmers need to do more to promote themselves and their products,” said Don Hardy, a North Dakota wheat farmer who participated in the mission. “With wheat, we have to export a greater percentage of the crop, so we rely on foreign customers. We need them, hopefully they need us, and we have quality products.”
The 2026 North Asia Board Team included five wheat farmers: Hardy from Beach, North Dakota; Lee Dahlman from Dutton, Montana; Glendon Slaubaugh from Wolford, North Dakota; Chris Tanner from Norton, Kansas; and Nathan Keane from Loma, Montana. Julia Debes, USW director of communications and stakeholder outreach, led the team throughout their two-week trip to South Korea and Taiwan.
The first story in this series explores the team’s orientation in Portland, Oregon, and the first leg of their mission in South Korea.
Laying the Groundwork for Quality Assurance in Portland
Braving heavy fog and flat tires on the way to the airport, the six team members made their way to Portland, Oregon, to kick off their overseas mission. At the USW West Coast Office, the team was briefed on the South Korean and Taiwanese markets, cultural norms and areas of specific interest for these quality-conscious, steady grain buyers.
South Korea produces less than half the calories its people need, mostly from rice, so imports are a necessity. Koreans are also shifting from primarily eating rice to consuming more wheat products and meat. As a result, the bakery sector is growing even as the Korean population ages.
As a result, South Korea is a consistent buyer of U.S. hard red winter (HRW), hard red spring (HRW) and soft white (SW) wheat. The United States has an average market share of 47% in milling wheat, followed by Australia (45%) and Canada (8%). As of March 12, 2026, South Korea has purchased 1.85 million metric tons (MMT) (nearly 68 million bushels) of U.S. wheat.
South Korea is a very quality-conscious market and is willing to pay a premium to ensure they receive high-quality wheat. At the Wheat Marketing Center (WMC) in the historic Albers Mill building, the team discussed the different blends needed for Korean products, including instant noodles, breads, cakes and cookies. Team members saw equipment funded by their state wheat commissions, which support testing blends of U.S. wheat classes, including efforts to replace competing Australian noodle wheat (ANW).
South Korea also has high food-safety. As with all international shipments, the USDA’s Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) collects samples throughout the unloading and loading process at export facilities like the Columbia Export Terminal.
This sampling process ensures that each sub-lot on a cargo vessel meets safety standards and the exact contractual specifications of buyers. In fact, the shipping bins at export facilities cannot be unlocked without the green light from FGIS.
FGIS also coordinates additional sample testing with OMIC, an independent laboratory and inspection service. The laboratory was formed primarily to serve the Japanese market, but is also certified by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), South Korea’s equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
South Korea requires the testing of more than 500 different compounds, including DON, ochratoxin and aflatoxin and pesticide residues. The team toured the OMIC facility and saw the rigorous and extensive equipment and labs that help ensure quality assurance for U.S. wheat shipments to South Korea, Japan and other international markets.
Touching Down in Seoul: Tracing the Flow of U.S. Wheat Exports to South Korea
After an early morning and a long flight across the Pacific Ocean and the international dateline, the team landed in South Korea.
U.S. Wheat opened an office in South Korea in 1972, and each of the three staff members in the country has their own long history with the organization and the Korean milling and baking industry. Country Director Dongchan “Channy” Bae joined U.S. Wheat three years ago, but his career includes more than 20 years in grain procurement and milling. Bakery Technology David Oh has provided technical baking expertise for 10 years and Jin Young Lee, USW marketing programs and finance manager, has more than three decades of experience promoting U.S. wheat on behalf of American farmers.
With these expert guides and additional background from USDA’s agricultural affairs team down the hall, the team embarked on their mission to trace U.S. wheat imports into South Korea from the port to the final dessert, complete with strawberries on top.
Unloading Excellence: The Logistics of U.S. Wheat Imports
Two pictures on the office wall at the Taeyoung Grain Terminal showed a vessel loading at the Columbia Export Terminal, where the team had just visited, and unloading at the Pyeong Taek-Dangjin Port.
Built on an island of reclaimed land, the terminal is a major grain unloading and storage facility in South Korea, with a long berth capable of unloading two vessels simultaneously. Unloading each vessel takes four to five days and then conveyor systems transport the wheat directly to grain silos. Wheat is then trucked out to nearby flour mills.
From Premixes to Pastries: Inside South Korea’s Milling Operations
One of those mills is the Samyang Milling Facility in Asan, the former employer of Country Director Bae. The mill is part of the larger Samyang Corporation, which has a diversified production portfolio spanning cosmetics, biopharmaceuticals, other medical products, plastics and more.
As a company, Samyang produces more than 130 wheat flour products and more than 300 premix products, ranging from the flour for Krispy Kreme and Knotted doughnuts, batter for McDonald’s chicken products and corn dogs and premixes for export to Japan. The Asan Plant was established in 1994 and has three dedicated milling lines for wheat flour, one milling line for whole wheat flour and three lines for premix production.
Samyang procures 300,000 MT (11 million bushels) of wheat annually from the United States, including HRW, HRS and SW. During a tour of the flour mill, the team examined streams of U.S. HRS and a white flour blend of U.S. SW and Australian Soft White (ASW). The mill prides itself on an above-average extraction rate of 80%, achieved through the use of additional sifters and purifiers. The team also visited the quality assurance lab, which uses technologies such as NIR (Near-Infrared) to measure flour quality in real time as wheat moves through the mill.
“One observation is how much testing goes on with all the different flours and with the milling process,” Montana farmer Lee Dahlman said. “I was very impressed with how the wheat is milled.”
U.S. Wheat Brings Happiness to Global Instant Noodle Market
Notably, Samyang produces the all-purpose flour used by Nongshim to produce instant noodles. The team toured the Nongshim instant noodle plant earlier that day to walk through the eight noodle lines.
Operating under the slogan “Lovely Life, Lovely Food :)”, Nongshim is the largest instant noodle company in South Korea, with a domestic market share exceeding 50 percent. Nongshim prides itself on using no preservatives in its products, and their broth packets are called “magic powder” for including high-quality, flavorful ingredients and low sodium. Nongshim products also include U.S. SW and HRW wheat in addition to Australian Noodle Wheat (ANW).
Nongshim also exports snacks to more than 100 countries, including SHIN (Spicy Happiness In Noodles) ramyun and other instant noodle and ready-to-eat fresh noodle products. Operations include a factory in Los Angeles and U.S. consumers can buy Nongshim products from both Korean (made with 50% U.S. wheat) and U.S. (made with 100% U.S. wheat) origins at Walmart, Costco and other U.S. retailers. And one of those U.S. consumers was standing right there in the plant learning that one of his family’s favorite meals was made from wheat grown in his region and exported back to the United States – Montana farmer Nathan Keane.
“I didn’t realize that the instant noodles I was buying at Walmart are Nongshim noodles – I have those noodles in my pantry!” said Keane, who also serves as the vice president of the National Association of Wheat Growers. “That’s a totally mind-blowing, full-circle thing. I love eating those noodles, and my kids love eating them too. Now I have to check the label to see if those noodles came directly from South Korea or from Nongshim’s plant in Los Angeles.”
Building Baking Legacies in South Korea
Beyond instant noodles, the Korean bakery sector is also thriving. In between official visits, the team explored a premium food hall underneath the Hyundai building and the more economical E-mart, providing a perspective on the different trends, pop-up shops and stores using U.S. wheat to make bakery products from instant noodles to fancy desserts to fast food pop-ups like Five Guys.
The origins of many of these products can be traced to the Korea Baking School (KBS), founded in May 1972 as a confectionery school. U.S. Wheat has supported the KBS since October 1972, including sponsoring the printing of the school’s first training manual. Since that time, U.S. Wheat has continued, along with its state wheat commission members, to provide support through participation in courses, donations of equipment like Hobart mixers and an oven suited for natural fermentation baking (sourdough) and donating wheat flour. Today, the KBS has 300 graduates per year, and its courses vary from three months to one year to weekend courses.
At the KBS, the team met students currently enrolled in courses, including a year-long baking course and a group of aspiring American bakers (including a Harvard student) working to open a Korean-style bakery in Los Angeles.
“Going through the KBS and seeing the long legacy that U.S. Wheat has had there, I was proud to see the equipment and the donations that our checkoff dollars have made possible to help people learn how to use our products and have the tools to do so successfully,” said Kansas farmer Chris Tanner, who also serves as the treasurer of the National Association of Wheat Growers and the president of the Kansas Wheat Growers. “As a producer in the field, I enjoyed seeing how the products that we raise are desired and wanted and how they perform. Putting seeds in the ground in Kansas to a meal on a plate halfway around the world, seeing the whole process inside and out was rewarding.”
KBS also coordinates with U.S. Wheat to experiment with wheat flour blends at the Wheat Marketing Center. The KBS employees include three of the 1,200 Korean Master Bakers as instructors, each of whom has attended courses at the Wheat Marketing Center back in Portland.
Speaking of the Wheat Marketing Center, the team’s last activity in South Korea was gathering at the bakery and pizza restaurant owned and operated by SPC Procurement Group, Korea’s largest bakery franchise. Gary Hou, senior managing director, has been a longtime consultant for U.S. Wheat and has worked at the Wheat Marketing Center.
The bakery is known for its tiered levels of businesses focused around wheat foods, from the franchised Paris Baguette to the mid-level Paris Croissant and the flagship store passion5. SPC Group also introduced Baskin-Robbins and Dunkin’ Donuts to South Korea. Paris Baguette is also expanding its franchise into other international markets, including the United States, and is in the process of building a frozen dough production facility in Texas.
USW Board Team Reflects on South Korean Commitment to U.S. Wheat
As the first half of their mission drew to a close, the team reflected on the logistics, technical and personal relationships required to keep wheat moving from their home elevators to noodle plants and bakeries in Seoul. For these farmers, the trip was more than educational; it was a reminder of the global demand for the quality wheat they strive to grow each year.
“I’ve come to truly appreciate the tremendous effort that goes into our trade,” North Dakota farmer Glendon Slaubaugh said. “It’s eye-opening to see just how much dedication and hard work it takes to keep everything running. I always knew it required a lot, but it never ceases to amaze me how much commitment it really demands.”
Read more from USW here.