FORT COLLINS, COLORADO, US — Limagrain Cereal Seeds (LCS) has named Cathy Butti, a wheat quality industry veteran with 43 years of experience, to lead the LCS Quality Lab.

“It’s important to me to provide breeders with consistent, reliable, high-quality data,” Butti said. “Just as important as providing data is providing a sense of pride. I love what I do. I have a real passion for making sure the wheat our customers use is a good quality.”

Butti earned a degree in food and nutrition from North Dakota State University (NDSU), where she landed a work-study position in NDSU’s barley breeding program and began testing new barley varieties for potential malt and beer production. A staff member left the NDSU lab right when Butti was graduating, and she took over the position. After more than a year of testing barley full-time, she left NDSU and embarked on a lifelong career in wheat quality. 

Butti has managed quality labs for AgriPro and Syngenta. She’s worked with wheat breeders across North America, operating within US and Canadian markets to test, document and meet quality standards. 

“We take wheat quality very seriously at LCS,” said Tatiana Henry, chief operating officer of LCS, noting that LCS is the only private wheat seed company with its own quality lab. “Cathy is an asset to our lab and our team, helping us exceed our farmers’ expectations for milling, baking and overall end-use quality.”

Different end users have different quality requirements, Butti said, and ultimately it comes down to seed companies making a commitment to ensuring the quality behind the wheat varieties they release.

“I care about what comes out of here, and that what is done is being done properly,” Butti said. “When I talk to the average person and tell them what I do, I hope when they go to the store and look at a loaf of bread, they have a better understanding of what went into it.”