Washington, DC, USA
September 3, 2009

Source: U.S. Wheat Associates newsletter

U.S. wheat plantings have been on a long-term downtrend and net returns per acre favor other crops in areas where options exist. This situation is likely to intensify and expand soon after technology providers introduce drought tolerance traits for the 2010 U.S. corn crop. Fortunately, U.S. wheat industry stakeholders have over several years aligned to help change the equation and begin restoring wheat’s competitiveness.

The commitment to funding wheat research jumped considerably in 2008/09. A number of public and private technology providers announced major investments in wheat research in such areas as improved nitrogen utilization, drought tolerance, and disease resistance intended to increase productivity. Just last week, in fact, the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA) announced a two-year public-private partnership between technology provider Syngenta, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and SFSA to rapidly identify and map genetic markers for use in wheat resistance breeding against Ug99 stem rust, a fungal disease which can cause devastating crop losses.

There can be no doubt that development of biotechnology traits drives this resurgence in wheat research. It will be several years before biotechnology traits are commercialized, yet USW is confident that with more funding, conventional breeding will yield valuable innovations more quickly. USW and the National Association of Wheat Growers will remain committed to supplying the wheat our customers want while ensuring our producers have access to technology that will help them continue to be the world’s most reliable suppliers.

Website: http://www.uswheat.org

Published: September 3, 2009