Pullman, Washington
July 12, 2007
Washington wheat growers are about
to become even more involved in the consideration and approval
of new wheat varieties developed by scientists in the
Washington State University
(WSU) College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource
Sciences (CAHNRS ).
CAHNRS Dean Dan Bernardo, working with leadership from the
Washington Wheat Commission and the Washington Association of
Wheat Growers, has launched several new initiatives to
strengthen ties between the wheat industry and WSU wheat
research.
“These initiatives are a way to make a great wheat research
program even better,” Bernardo said. “The WSU wheat research
program is one of, if not the, best of its kind in the country,
in large part because of the strong industry support we’ve
enjoyed. Strengthening our already-strong ties with wheat
growers will help us be more responsive to their needs.”
Specifically, CAHNRS will be working with industry to:
- Create a new WSU Wheat
Research Advisory Committee comprised of a mix of industry
representatives as well as WSU faculty and administrators
- Refine the composition,
policies and leadership of the Variety Release Committee to
make it more responsive to grower needs
- Revise the Wheat
Commission’s current research grant processes to provide
more specific direction to scientists and to ensure research
outcomes are delivered
- Develop an up-to-date set
of research priorities endorsed by the wheat commission
- Develop a business plan
for WSU wheat research.
The initiatives spring from
recommendations made in an external review of the program
earlier this year. WSU asked and paid for the review as a way to
ensure and improve the quality of the program.
“The Review Team found outstanding talent at all levels,” the
report reads. “Facilities we observed are world class. Support
from growers and other stakeholders has been strong and
consistent. We heard that WWC funding for wheat research and
extension programs at WSU is the largest in the country, and
this appears to be true. This amounts to a strong, sustained
expression of confidence from producers.”
Challenges facing the program in the future, according to the
report, include sustaining the development and release of wheat
varieties that meat the changing needs of Washington wheat
growers, growing competition from wheat varieties released by
other states and the private sector, and increasing interest in
organic or sustainable production systems. The reviewers also
recommended that communication both within the wheat breeding
team and between wheat breeders and industry be strengthened.
“It was very beneficial to have both our strengths and
challenges reaffirmed by outside reviewers,” said Ralph
Cavalieri, associate dean and director of the WSU Agricultural
Research Center. “We have one of the premier wheat breeding
programs in the country, and we want to keep it that way.”
Washington state ranks fifth in the nation in wheat production,
with 1.8 million acres of winter wheat and 500,000 acres of
spring wheat. Wheat is the third largest commodity in the state.
WSU scientists have developed nearly all of the soft white
winter club varieties, 69 percent of the soft white spring
wheat, 62 percent of the soft white winter wheat and 55 percent
of the hard red winter wheat varieties. Excellence in variety
development is an historical strength of the university. Its
development of semi-dwarf wheat fueled the “green revolution” in
the 1960s. |
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