Economic Implications of Cleaning Wheat in the United States

The costs of cleaning wheat exceed the domestic benefits of cleaning wheat. The absence of net domestic benefits from cleaning wheat suggests that the U.S. wheat market is responding efficiently to domestic market signals for less dockage and foreign material in wheat. An overall reduction in dockage and foreign material could benefit the U.S. wheat industry only if cleaner U.S. wheat induces sufficient trade benefits to overcome the net domestic cost. Barring any benefits from increased sales and premiums on the international market, there is no basis for mandatory cleaning requirements in the United States based on the costs and benefits of cleaning wheat. The least-cost alternative of cleaning wheat is at the subterminal elevator, which had a $23 million net cost