Moscow, Idaho, USA
February 20, 2013

University of Idaho plant breeder will expand his efforts to develop valuable new crops beyond oilseeds to focus on wheat for Idaho and Northwest famers.

Brown, a 20-year member of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences faculty at Moscow, was tasked recently with including wheat breeding in his duties.

Canola, rapeseed and mustard varieties have occupied his time at Idaho. His IdaGold mustard is used by some of the nation’s largest mustard makers because of its superior qualities. Brown will continue to develop new oilseed varieties.

With more than a dozen canola, rapeseed and mustard varieties available to growers, Brown is most identified with the oilseeds that turn thousands of acres across the Northwest golden each spring and summer.

His past, however, includes jobs where he focused on breeding barley and potatoes. “Once you’ve worked with plants, the science is pretty similar,” Brown said. His years breeding barley will provide him with valuable experience in working with wheat.

“We are fortunate that we have a successful plant breeder on staff who has the diverse experience working with crops and with growers,” said John Foltz, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences interim dean at Moscow.

With wheat and barley sales worth a projected $1.1 billion to Idaho growers last year, the college recognized the importance of having an experienced scientist overseeing wheat variety development for northern Idaho and the Inland Northwest, Foltz said.

“The need for this move is clear,” Brown said. “A new wheat variety can take 7 to 10 years to develop before it has been tested enough to know its potential. If we have a gap of several years with no northern Idaho breeder, that delays the ability of growers to adapt to changing market demands or capitalize on new discoveries.

“The important thing is we want to keep the pipeline full so we continue to make the progress our growers need to remain competitive in global markets,” Brown said.”

Jianli Chen, a University of Idaho wheat breeder based at the Aberdeen Research and Extension Center will continue developing new wheat varieties tailored to irrigated production there. Chen is working with USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists there to evaluate national wheat germplasm.

Brown will work closely with Limagrain Cereal Seeds wheat breeders in the Northwest as part of an innovative collaboration that shares the company’s extensive European germplasm collection and marketing expertise with University of Idaho germplasm and expertise. 

Jack Brown's website
 

Website: http://www.uidaho.edu

Published: February 20, 2013