Wheat Quality and Flour Milling: Lessons from Brian Walker

Just six weeks after finishing high school, Brian Walker wasn’t aiming for a high-powered job. He worked full-time at a gas station, living week to week, until a surprise phone call changed his path.

That call brought him to a flour mill and into an industry most people only think about when they buy bread. On a recent episode of the Wheat’s On Your Mind podcast, Walker talked with host Aaron Harries and Kansas Wheat CEO Justin Gilpin about the key moments in his 45-year milling career and what the wheat industry is really like.

Walker’s first job at Seaboard Allied Milling in Kansas City, Missouri, had an official title, assistant quality control manager, but the labor was hard and hands-on. He managed sample cans, moved samples through the lab and learned how wheat quality could affect everything from flour performance to baking consistency.

The schedule was even tougher than the work itself. Walker said he had to be there whenever the mill was running, even on weekends. In his first weeks, the mill shipped flour overseas in 140-pound jute bags and Walker worked six straight weeks without a day off, earning $4 an hour.

The job was demanding, but it gave Walker a close look at the wheat supply chain. Early on, he learned about crop surveys, wheat types and baking tests, building the skills that later took him to a 20-week course at the American Institute of Baking in Manhattan.

As Walker moved through jobs at Seaboard, Cargill, Ardent Mills, and Miller Milling, he watched the industry change through consolidation. He saw the early 1980s as a turning point, when more companies were bought out and competition became more strategic.

The changes went beyond new owners. Walker explained that consolidation also changed how people talked about crop quality. Millers used to meet and share information, but that became less common.

“All the millers would come openly talk about the crop, talk about the quality, where the issues were, where the opportunities were,” Walker said. “By the time 85, 86 rolled around… it became clear that… the work that you did on the crop, you kept to yourself and you used that as a competitive edge for your company.”

As the baking industry modernized, Walker said the pace and pressure increased. Big commercial bakeries ran longer and faster, needing more consistent wheat. At the same time, bakers started using new ingredients, moving away from potassium bromate to such as enzymes, which changed how they kept dough strong and loaves high quality.

These pressures affected farmers, too. Walker said that better wheat varieties, disease control, and new breeding tools helped the industry keep milling quality steady, especially as food safety issues like fusarium head blight and vomitoxin became bigger concerns.

Now living in Minnesota, Walker is still active in the wheat industry. He works with the National Wheat Foundation, stays involved with the Wheat Quality Council, and consults for U.S. Wheat Associates, which keeps him connected to both American farmers and flour customers around the world.

At the end of the episode, Walker shared the most important lesson since his early days in the mill: show up, work hard, and stay involved.

“You got to be willing to work. And you need to work hard,” Walker said. “Be involved… it’s a people business.”

To learn more, listen to the full episode of Wheat’s On Your Mind at wheatsonyourmind.com.