The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released its annual National Trade Estimates (NTE) report March 31, 2021, which highlights U.S. trade barriers across various industries including U.S. wheat. The 2021 NTE features reports on more than 60 counties.
U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) submitted comments in late 2020 to USTR to be considered for the NTE. Although not all the trade issues USW raised made it into the final report, USTR does highlight several ongoing issues as well as some resolved long-standing issues for U.S. wheat.
Brazil
In the NTE report, USTR noted that the Brazilian government opened its 750,000 metric ton tariff rate quota (TRQ) for wheat imports outside of MERCOSUR. The TRQ was opened in 2019 and then increased in 2020. Having the TRQ open outside of MERCOSUR countries is welcoming news for U.S. wheat producers, as it helps U.S. wheat to compete based on quality and value in the Brazilian market.
China
The U.S. government continues to monitor China’s compliance on its TRQ allocation. After losing a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute case brought by the United States, China agreed to follow its commitment on a TRQ allocation of 9.64 million metric tons (MMT) of wheat. Before the WTO case and the U.S.- China Phase 1 agreement, China had never filled its TRQ for wheat despite conducive market conditions. Over the last year, China has made significant wheat purchases and USDA Foreign Agricultural Service estimates China’s wheat imports at 10.5 MMT for marketing year 2020/21. The NTE also highlights China’s inability to comply with its domestic support obligations on wheat, rice, and corn production following a WTO dispute brought by the United States in 2016.
India
The NTE highlights a major trade policy issue with the Indian government maintaining market distorting domestic support policies. Those policies encourage Indian farmers to produce excess amounts of wheat, distorting markets through large domestic crops and suppressing global prices. When domestic stocks get too large, India has exported the excess supplies in the market at low prices. A study by Texas A&M University economists estimates that U.S. wheat production value would increase by $516 million per year by 2028/29 if India eliminated these subsidy policies.
Kenya
The NTE also included information about a 2020 win for U.S. wheat farmers that helped resolve a sanitary-phytosanitary (SPS) barrier related to the plant disease Flag Smut and Pacific Northwest wheat exports to Kenya. This is an issue that USW has been working to resolve for many years. Please read more about it here.
USW is encouraged to see USTR highlight the important trade barriers, as well as the successful resolution of several trade barriers for U.S. wheat exporters. The full 2021 National Trade Estimates report from USTR can be found here.
The Cat is still purring after 67 years. Well, more like chugging along.
This Cat is a Caterpillar model D6 9U tractor with crawler treads, purchased new in 1954 by Bernard Martin for his north-central Oregon farm. As the only tractor on the farm at the time, the Cat was powerful yet small and lightweight, making it ideal for working on the farm’s very steep slopes.
Mr. Martin’s future son-in-law, Dale Padget, first drove the Cat in 1956.
“He was 18 years old and worked for Grandpa Martin as the ‘Cat Skinner,’ pulling the combine during harvest and doing field operations,” said Darren Padget, who is Dale’s son and the current Chairman of U.S. Wheat Associates (USW). “He was dating my Mom, Deanna, and eventually they inherited the farm our family now operates … and the Cat.”
Keeping it Running
The family operated crawler tractors like the Cat until the 1970s when manufacturers developed modern, articulated tractors that had, as Padget put it, the umph to handle the hills.
“After that, Dad installed a dozer blade on the Cat and it has been our bulldozer ever since,” he recalled. “I overhauled the engine* and put in a new undercarriage when I was in college. A few years later, we overhauled the transmission. We also use it to run a feed chopping machine when we make hay for our beef cattle.”
The 1954 Cat D6 9U is still in use at Padget Ranches in Grass Valley, Ore., as a bulldozer to reshape the land as needed.
Back in the Field
Dale Padget will be 83 in June this year and has retired from most field work. His “tractor time” is down in part because the family farm now uses reduced tillage practices that help improve and protect their soil, in which they grow seed wheat, grass and other small grain crops.
But recently, Darren and his son Logan decided they should put Grandpa Dale, and the Cat, to work in the field one more time.
“On my Facebook page, we like to show folks how farming has changed over the years,” Darren explained. “And we wanted to record my Dad working with the tractor he has driven for so much of his life.”
Darren and Logan were planting some grass into a field designated for the USDA Conservation Reserve Program or CRP** (another tool they use to help protect soil and environmental health). They hitched the Cat to seed drills purchased in the 1970s and Dale went back to work.
Dale Padget, 82, is ready to run the Cat tractor he first ran in 1956 to plant a grass cover crop on the family farm.
Dramatic Changes
On another day they captured images of the dramatic shift from the functional implements of the past to today’s far more efficient equipment with digital and GPS systems.
Much has changed since Dale Padget first operated the Cat in 1956. Today, his son Darren and grandson Logan use precision farming tools that make them better stewards by protecting soil while ensuring fertilizer and crop protection products are used only where needed and in precise amounts.
In the photo at the top of this page, the Cat pulls its implement past the original Martin family homestead, built in the early 1900s.
“I think it is important to remember how far one family has come,” Padget said. “and how much has changed since Dad started driving the Cat. He will be back out there tomorrow as our ‘dozer guy,’ and Logan and I will keep building on the work he did, and the Martin family before him, all the way back to 1910.”
*The 1954 Cat D6 9U in fact has two engines: a small, two-cylinder gasoline engine, called the “pony motor,” is fired up to start the big diesel engine.
** CRP is a land conservation program administered by USDA’s Farm Service Administration. In exchange for a yearly rental payment, farmers enrolled in the program agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and plant species that will improve environmental health and quality.
https://www.uswheat.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/The-Cat-Header.jpg5701104actualizehttps://www.uswheat.org/wp-content/uploads/USW-Logo-Full-Color.pngactualize2021-04-13 20:30:132022-03-29 16:15:35The Cat Reminds Padget Family to Build on the Past
Originally published by University Communication, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Reprinted with permission.
Throughout 2021, the U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) Wheat Letter is featuring the many stories of the people, processes and passions that go into producing and delivering high-quality U.S. wheat to the world. Our focus will be on quality that starts with dedicated private and public wheat breeding programs, is fostered by hard-working farm families, is maintained by grain handlers and observed in hundreds of wholesome, nutritious wheat foods.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s P. Stephen Baenziger has advised that if you cannot be good, at least be lucky. He considers himself one of the luckiest people who has ever lived. The university knows him as a world leader in wheat breeding — a modest one.
Baenziger, the small grains breeder in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, will retire May 3 after 35 years of service to the university.
Long, Productive Career
The Wheat Growers Presidential Chair and a Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute Faculty Fellow started at the university in 1986. He began his career at the USDA-ARS in 1976 after he received his doctorate in 1975 at the age of 24. After working there for almost eight years, he joined Monsanto where he worked for almost three years and was first introduced to hybrid wheat before coming to Nebraska.
Baenziger’s program at Nebraska had three goals — to keep the Nebraska small grains producer profitable through enhanced productivity (hence the cultivar releases), create new breeding methods to enhance the science of plant breeding and educate the next generation of scientist plant breeders.
Dozens of Cultivars
During his tenure, he has released, co-released or is in the process of releasing 44 winter wheat, seven winter barley and 13 winter triticale cultivars. The wheat and barley cultivars are grown mainly in Nebraska and adjacent states, while the triticale cultivars are grown nationally (from New York to New Mexico). One wheat and one triticale cultivar have been licensed for sale in Turkey, the original homeland for the hard winter wheats of the Great Plains.
Giving back and looking for opportunities have always been part of the Nebraska small grains program. His cultivars have been grown on as much as 80% of Nebraska’s wheat acreage and are probably grown on about 50% of the wheat acreage today.
When it comes to science, Baenziger was an early proponent of doubled haploids to speed up breeding and now heavily uses genomic selection and molecular markers to link breeding generations and environments. He and his team also lead the largest public collaboration on hybrid wheat in the United States. In the future, high-throughput phenotyping and the needed information technology will be added to drive the small grains improvement program. In addition to his 64 cultivars, he has published 294 peer-reviewed publications, 32 proceedings and symposia papers, and 16 book chapters.
“While it is critical to release cultivars, a scientist should never lose sight of also leaving the plans (publications) of how the work was done for the next generation,” he said.
A Legacy of Pride
Baenziger is proud of the cultivars and the impact on Nebraska agriculture, but he said his legacy will be the students he helped educate and the collaborations he fostered during his career. “Programs are never bricks and mortar, but rather are always people,” he said.
He taught graduate students introductory plant breeding every year, has been the major adviser to over 60 master’s and doctoral students, and served on the supervisory committees of many others. He has also been able to work with technologists who are the “boots-on-the-ground” ambassadors for the program as well as numerous postdocs and visiting scientists.
UNL Small Grains Wheat Breeder Dr. P. Stephen Baenziger will retire May 3 after 35 years of service to the university. Photo by Lana Koepke Johnson, UNL Department Agronomy and Horticulture.
As for his collaborations, there have been many. Every cultivar he released was improved by the Foundation Seed Division and by seed growers/dealers of the Nebraska Crop Improvement Association. His friends in the milling and baking industry helped identify lines that the market wanted to buy.
“A land grant university is the people’s university and that means being very inclusive,” Baenziger said.
The program has germplasm exchange agreements with every major plant breeding company and universities globally, was involved in a major sharing of germplasm with Bayer Crop Science when they entered the wheat market and has collaborations with the great international centers of CIMMYT and ICARDA.
As his career winds down, Baenziger said he is extraordinarily grateful to the University of Nebraska for allowing him the freedom to be the kind of scientist he wanted to become and to the Nebraska Wheat Board for its continuous support of the small grains project. He also is grateful that the university, in the midst of a pandemic with all the economic consequences, hired Katherine Frels to be his successor.
“She is a former graduate student of the project, knows Nebraska well, and will take the program to new heights,” Baenziger said. “The future is bright.”
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U.S. wheat farmers know that improving economic and environmental sustainability is increasingly important to the world’s buyers and wheat food processors.
The commitment each person makes on the journey to those customers is what makes U.S. wheat unmatched in both quality and reliability. Farmers especially feel a responsibility to preserve this legacy, to act as stewards of the land, and promote new practices that improve economic and environmental sustainability.
Reflection First
“Sometimes we need to reflect on what we have done, visit with experts regarding farming practices, and continually try to improve,” said Scott Huso who with his wife Elizabeth and an experienced team of employees operate Ridgeline Farm near Aneta, N.D. “We are not trying to improve our farm for us, but for the next generations to come.”
Productive Soil. Using implements that allow Aneta, N.D., farmer Scott Huso to do a little tillage as possible, leaving crop residue on the field and planting cover crops keeps the soil on the Huso family’s Ridgeline Farm very productive to grow more and better wheat and other crops for people around the world. Photo from a Ridgeline Farm video.
The Responsible Way
“Members of my community, members of my family will be consuming this crop, as well as families around the United States and families across the globe,” said Kansas farmer Justin Knopf.
“When I make a decision to use a particular product, whether it be to fertilize the crop, to give it the fertility, the nutrition that it needs to grow and produce nutritious grain and good grain quality,” he said, “I always weigh those trade-offs with the end in mind and in a responsible way that consumers can be confident that we’ve done our due diligence.”
Sharing His Story. Kansas farmer Justin Knopf has invested in soil health through cover crops, no-till farming and crop rotation. “What I do impacts consumers, so it is important to share the bigger story of what is happening on our farm,” he said.
U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) is sharing a new video production called “Sustainability: Sustaining the Legacy” that features U.S. wheat farmers like Scott Huso and Justin Knopf explaining how they go about improving economic and environmental sustainability practices on their farms with end-use qualities and future farm families in mind.
A Better Future
These individual actions contribute to the whole in a big way – a future with better quality wheat and better land management, leading to better food products for people across the world.
Recent news and highlights from around the U.S. wheat industry.
Speaking of Wheat. “The research is really there to show that sprouting grain, unfortunately, has bad end-use quality, generally. If we use the ELISA [test for starch damage] … our confidence in the predicted end-use quality goes up. I think that’s the advantage of that test.” — Ashley Cannon, Research Molecular Biologist, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Pullman, Wash., from a discussion in Capital Press about a developmental test for wheat starch damage.
USW Assistant Director Position Opens. The U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) Assistant Director, West Coast Office position in Portland, Ore., helps USW fulfill its mission through grain trade and state wheat commission outreach, programming support and assisting overseas trade delegations to the Pacific Northwest. Learn more about this position here.
USW Hosts New Monthly Webinar. USW introduces its new monthly webinar series, “Creating Value for U.S. Wheat,” open to anyone wanting to improve their milling efficiency and profitability. This series provides technical guidance to add value for customers as they make their wheat purchasing decisions. USW will start with the basic concepts of why and how to blend and culminate in using SRC and other flour testing methods to determine best blending strategies. The first webinar, “Creating Value for U.S. Wheat: Through Blending,” is scheduled for April 14 and 15. Learn more and register at https://bit.ly/CreatingValueforUSWheat.
No Wheat Food? The U.S. Wheat Foods Council (WFC) launched a new video series, “Brett Carver Explains,” in which the Oklahoma State University wheat breeder and WFC Board of Advisor member will cover a range of wheat topics. The first video is called “What have you got to lose?” exploring what the human body misses when wheat food is eliminated from the diet. Take a look at the video here.
U.S. Wheat Associates Publishes Commercial Sales every Thursday, documenting wheat export sales-to-date by country and class for the current marketing year compared to the previous marketing year on the same date. The report includes a 10-year commercial sales history by class and country. Data is sourced from the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service Weekly Export Sales Report. Read the latest report on the USW website.
Subscribe to USW Reports. USW publishes various reports and content that are available to subscribe to, including a bi-weekly newsletter highlighting recent Wheat Letter blog posts, the weekly Price Report and the weekly Harvest Report (available May to October). Subscribe here.
Follow USW Online. Visit our Facebook page for the latest updates, photos and discussions of what is going on in the world of wheat. Also, find breaking news on Twitter, video stories on Vimeo and more on LinkedIn.
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According to the March 31 USDA 2021 Prospective Plantings report, total U.S. total spring wheat planted area is expected to fall to 11.7 million acres (4.34 million hectares), down 4% from last year, if realized. This estimate includes 10.9 million acres (4.41 million hectares) of hard red spring (HRS), down 5% from last year and down 6% from the 5-year average.
“We agree with USDA estimates that spring wheat acres will be down this year,” said one U.S.-based grain trader. “We’ve heard producers in the Dakotas and Minnesota say it would take a $7.00 per bushel cash price for HRS for them to plant more of it,” he continued.
The trade believes producers are going to plant corn and soybeans “fence post to fence post” this year in the Northern Plains.
Durum Down
USDA expects durum planted area to total 1.54 million acres (623,000 hectares), down 9% from last year and down 19% from the 5-year average.
For all U.S. wheat, USDA now expects planted area for harvest in 2021 to total 46.4 million acres (18.8 million hectares), up 4% on the year due to significant increases in both hard red winter (HRW) and soft red winter (SRW) planted area.
Extremely Dry
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, most of the Northern Plains is abnormally to extremely dry. Farmers like to plant spring wheat early to increase yield potential and dry field conditions help them get spring wheat in the ground. But if adequate precipitation doesn’t follow April planting, persistent dryness could challenge spring wheat germination and yield potential.
USDA expects North Dakota farmers to plant 5.60 million acres (2.27 million hectares) of HRS for harvest in 2021, down 2% from last year.
“USDA’s number came in slightly higher than our expectations at only about 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares) less than last year,” said Erica Olson, North Dakota Wheat Commission’s Market Development and Research Manager. According to Olson, HRS acres could fall below USDA’s expectations following continued strength in corn and soybean futures prices.
While all the state is moderately to severely dry, some areas in southeastern North Dakota do have adequate subsoil moisture to get the young wheat established.
“Farmers haven’t had good precipitation since last summer,” said Olson, “they’ll take any precipitation they can at this point.”
USDA expects North Dakota durum planted area to fall substantially in 2021 to 1.50 million acres (607,000 hectares), down 18% from last year on more competitive canola and soybean prices in the northwest region of the state. However, Olson believes North Dakota producers could plant more durum acres than USDA expects based on competitive durum cash prices which are trading at least a $1.00/bu premium to HRS in most parts of the state.
USDA predicts Minnesota farmers will seed 1.40 million acres (557,000 hectares) of HRS for harvest in 2021, down 3% from last year but in line with industry expectations.
Extreme dryness in Minnesota wheat country has producers concerned.
“I talk to a lot of farmers. This is the first time since 1988 that we are planting into dust with no subsoil moisture. Our farmers are not used to planting into dust and praying for rain,” said Charlie Vogel, Executive Director of the Minnesota Wheat Research and Promotion Council.
But dry field conditions help spring wheat planted area. “This year, we’re not trying to plant around wet areas, we don’t have mud or slews in the field. Given the dryness, I believe every acre can be seeded,” continued Vogel.
Vogel believes Minnesota producers could see a record crop if timely precipitation follows April planting. “We only need an early May rain to change everything. We will be planted and insured at profitable levels. And we will spend a lot of time in church praying for rain,” he said.
Montana
Montana producers intend to plant 2.90 million acres (1.17 million hectares) of HRS in 2021, down 12% from last year, but in line with the 5-year average. Montana spring and winter wheat acres typically share an inverse relationship and this year is no different. Montana winter wheat acres are up 13% on the year at 1.75 million acres (708,000 hectares).
“Producers were able to get a lot of winter wheat in the ground in fall 2020, significantly more than they could in fall 2019 due to poor weather conditions, this pressures available area for HRS come April,” said another grain trader.
According to Sam Anderson, Industry Analyst and Outreach Coordinator at the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee, dryness has producers on edge, but favorable spring wheat prices will encourage them to plant into dry soil, despite the drought risk.
However, “If the weather remains dry throughout planting, we may see some acres going fallow to conserve soil moisture for the 2022 crop year,” said Anderson.
Updated Winter Wheat Estimates
On March 31, USDA revised the country’s total winter wheat planted estimate to 33.1 million acres (13.4 million hectares), up 3% from its January estimate and up 9% from last year.
The hard red winter (HRW) planted area forecast fell slightly from January to 22.2 million acres (8.99 million hectares), up 8% from last year, if realized.
The soft red winter (SRW) planted area estimate increased 3% from January to 6.42 million acres (2.60 million hectares), up 14% from last year and up 11% from the 5-year average on favorable planting conditions.
USDA’s white winter wheat planted area forecast is stable at 3.48 million acres (1.41 million hectares), in line with 2020. USDA expects total white wheat acres, planted in both winter and spring, will total 4.28 million acres (1.73 million hectares), up 4% from last year and up 4% from the 5-year average.
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As wheat is a dietary staple in many diets, U.S. wheat has a long history of playing an important role in U.S. food aid programs. U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) and the farmers our organization represents welcome this award and are proud to play a part in helping the Sudanese people.
Food for Progress is an international development program at USDA-FAS that was authorized in the 1985 Farm Bill to help developing countries improve their agricultural industry through the monetization of donated commodities. The donated commodity is most often sold into the local market, with the proceeds funding an agricultural development program or addressing a specific need in that country.
Ethiopia Feed Program
Several Food for Progress programs have used wheat in recent years to help those in need. U.S. wheat was purchased to support Ethiopia’s livestock-feeding industry through the Feed for Enhancement for Ethiopian Development project (FEED). FEED monetized the wheat to supply a challenged local flour mill to secure supplies. The bran byproduct from processing the wheat was sold for livestock feeding in return, benefitting the FEED program.
Water Development in Jordan
Under a different Food for Progress program, wheat was monetized to Jordan for water development projects, including drilling deep wells, water waste treatment facilities, and dams for the purpose of agricultural improvements in Jordan. This area of the world has diminishing water supplies and limited infrastructure, so projects like these help improve agricultural development to countries in need.
The bulk carrier African Sunbird with U.S.-origin hard red winter wheat at the Port of Aqaba, Jordan on Aug. 29, 2017, during the vessel delivery ceremony under the USDA’s Food for Progress Program. Photo by USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.
Although most U.S. food aid is sent under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s emergency feeding programs, the Food for Progress program is unique in that it was established to pair the use of U.S. commodities with funding for agricultural development programs in developing countries. Programs are either government-to-government or through awarded proposals from non-government organizations (NGOs).
NGO Role
Once the government awards a program to an NGO, it implements the development program in one of the countries FAS identifies as priorities each year. The Sudan Food for Progress program is slightly different because it will not impact a specific agricultural development program in country. Instead, the wheat will go to mills then be sold as flour because the country faces a short supply of wheat.
USW values its partnership with USDA-FAS and looks forward to continuous promotion of high-quality U.S. wheat abroad to our valued customers – and to helping improve the lives of the neediest people through the Food for Progress program and other opportunities.
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Recently, U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) has shared a lot of information about U.S. wheat breeding programs and the tireless effort to meet the highest standards for our customers’ end-use quality needs and help farm families thrive. So far, we have described the important work of public wheat breeding programs at U.S. land grant universities and the support they get from farmers through state wheat checkoffs. Yet, many for-profit companies are doing excellent wheat variety development work and often collaborate with public breeding programs.
No Endorsement
USW does not endorse any public or private seed brands. To present a complete picture of the breeding industry, we invited several commercial seed companies to send us stories for our “Wheat Letter” blog about their efforts to increase wheat yield potential while also improving functional milling and baking quality. This post shares information from two of those companies, AgriPro® and WestBred®. Future posts will cover other commercial breeding programs.
AgriPro Wheat
For more than 50 years AgriPro® wheat, backed by Syngenta research and development programs, has been at the forefront of innovation in wheat breeding programs. Breeding practices like genomic selection allow for early characterization for better quality and higher yields. And as AgriPro® prepares to launch hybrid wheat, farmers and end-users alike will benefit from this exciting new technology.
Hybrid Wheat
“It is all about sustainability and consistency,” said Jon Rich, seeds development operations head for North America at Syngenta. “We know farmers need high yields and end-users need stable quality year over year. Hybrid wheat will be a significant change for protecting yield and quality. Our goal with hybrid wheat is to provide consistent functional quality across all types of wheat. It also opens the door to a host of future innovations.”
AP Octane from AgriPro is a spring wheat variety introduced in 2020. Photo courtesy of Syngenta.
Wheat Breeding Programs Consider End-User Needs
Hybrid wheat continues AgriPro’s longstanding commitment to the wheat industry. Research remains focused on developing varieties that provide farmers with high yield potential and end-users with the functional characteristics needed for milling and baking. With a deep understanding that consumers have a wide variety of needs, AgriPro® continues to lead the way in providing improved protein quality, gluten strength and mixing tolerance.
AgriPro® has the largest portfolio in the industry, with consistent top-performing varieties across regions. To learn more, visit www.agriprowheat.com. The photo at the top of this page courtesy of Syngenta shows a grain head from a new AgriPro® hard red spring wheat variety called AP-Octane.
AgriPro® is a registered trademark of Syngenta.
WestBred
In their wheat breeding programs, WestBred® researchers use both classic techniques and new technologies to select and breed wheat faster and more efficiently. Three examples of these enhanced technologies include:
Molecular Breeding
Also known as marker-assisted breeding, this is a tool that allows breeders search a sample of a plant’s DNA to look for markers associated with certain characteristics, such as better disease resistance or improved water absorption in milled flour.
The Seed Chipper
Using proprietary Bayer technology, breeders can obtain the DNA samples analyzed in the molecular breeding process. The chipper removes a small chip from each wheat seed for analysis without harming the seed’s ability to grow. Once breeders find the incredibly rare combination of genes they are looking for using molecular markers, they can plant a viable seed for field trials.
Doubled-Haploid
The Doubled-Haploid (DH) process accelerates genetic advancements by reducing the number of plant generations it takes to achieve a pure line. Completely homozygous lines help ensure all plants of a given variety are identical, which increases the precision of testing results and improves the quality of our products.
Through advanced breeding technologies and research capabilities, Bayer has built on its success in corn and soybean technologies to give WestBred® wheat access to the tools needed to help enhance productivity and improve yield potential.
WB9303 hard red spring wheat is one of WestBred’s newest varieties in production. Photo courtesy of Bayer.
Wheat Technology Center
Developing better seed starts with at the Bayer Wheat Technology Center in Twin Falls, Idaho, where breeders collaborate and leverage advanced Bayer technologies to develop new solutions. Rather than having breeders and technologies spread across six locations, Bayer brought together its wheat breeding program at the Wheat Technology Center to improve the quality and speed of Bayer’s innovation in wheat.
Wheat breeding programs at the Bayer Wheat Technology Center in Twin Falls, Idaho, promise more and better quality wheat for farmers and the world. Photo courtesy of Bayer.
WestBred® is a registered trademark of Bayer Group.
Read about other U.S. wheat public breeding programs:
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A coalition of Pacific Northwest (PNW) agricultural and commercial organizations recently responded with serious concerns to a controversial dam breaching proposal that would tear out four dams on the Snake River.
The dam breaching proposal, presented by U.S. Representative Mike Simpson of Idaho, aims to restore fish populations on the river while compensating groups affected by removing the dams. However, in a letter to government officials, the coalition said the plan would decimate U.S. producers’ ability to move wheat and other products to overseas customers and be of questionable environmental benefit.
The National Association of Wheat Growers joined state wheat organizations in Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Montana in signing the letter.
No Dams, No Barges
U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) has shared stories about the sustainability and reliability of wheat transportation by barge. The Columbia and Snake Rivers are essential parts of a logistical system that moves more than half of all U.S. wheat exports every year to more than 20 Pacific Rim countries. Wheat loaded on the Snake River makes up 10% of all U.S. wheat exports.
Barge traffic on the Columbia-Snake River System is the most cost-efficient and sustainable connection between U.S. wheat farmers and their customers overseas. And more easily navigable, safe and efficient barge transportation depends on river locks at each of the targeted dams.
Uncertain Results
USW shares the opinion stated in the coalition letter that improving fish populations are important and admirable goals. Still, there is little certainty removing the dams will restore fish populations to a level that would satisfy environmental advocacy groups involved in litigation over the river’s management.
The river system’s current management strikes a balance between all river uses—providing renewable electricity, transportation, irrigation flood control, and recreation. The dam breaching proposal would eliminate nearly all these benefits of the river. It would also subject interior PNW communities to a wide range of environmental and economic impacts.
Barge Traffic Safe for Now
Fortunately, U.S. wheat importers should not worry that the dams are in imminent danger. Members of Congress have not yet written legislation on the dam breaching proposal and it has not attracted much political support.
Hopefully, the proactive and vocal nature of river stakeholders early in this process will highlight the shortcomings of the proposal’s fish recovery portion and the enormous costs for trade, the region and the U.S. Treasury.
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Throughout 2021, the U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) Wheat Letter is featuring the many stories of the people, processes and passions that go into producing and delivering high-quality U.S. wheat to the world. Our focus will be on quality that starts with dedicated private and public wheat breeding programs, is fostered by hard-working farm families, is maintained by grain handlers and observed in hundreds of wholesome, nutritious wheat foods.
Scientists in U.S. wheat breeding programs work tirelessly to develop wheat varieties that meet the highest of standards, to meet our customers’ end-use needs and to help farm families thrive.
The journey of wheat to food tables around the world begins in public and commercial breeding programs. The process of continually improving varieties for farmers to grow, feed into the supply chain and, ultimately, end up in food products around the world.
Many such wheat breeding programs across the United States are necessary because of the widely varied production constraints and wheat classes adapted for different regions. Public university breeding programs have developed an estimated 65% of all U.S. wheat varieties across six distinct classes, funded in part by state wheat commissions, royalties from the sale of public varieties, and the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS).
In this post, Wheat Letter offers broad information about public university wheat breeding programs in Idaho, Washington, Oregon and California.
Federal Quality Lab
One major advantage to western U.S. public wheat breeding programs is its collaboration with scientists at the USDA-ARS Western Wheat Quality Laboratory (WWQL) near the Washington State University campus in Pullman, Wash.
Dr. Kimberly Garland-Campbell, Research Geneticist, ARS. Photo from LinkedIn.
The ARS laboratory works closely with public breeders, geneticists and pathologists in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, California and Arizona to evaluate the milling and baking quality characteristics of wheat selections produced each crop year. Researchers there are trying to better understand the fundamental nature of end-use functionality. In addition, Dr. Kimberly Garland-Campbell, Research Geneticist with ARS, focuses on club wheat research for the Pacific Northwest states.
Many overseas buyers of U.S. wheat have learned firsthand about the work of both institutions during trade team visits sponsored by U.S. Wheat Associates (USW).
University of Idaho
Farmers grow soft white (SW), hard red winter (HRW), hard red spring (HRS), durum and hard white (HW) wheat in Idaho’s diverse agricultural environment with and without irrigation. And wheat breeding research at the University of Idaho (UI) has contributed many of the most desirable wheat varieties adapted to Idaho and the Pacific Northwest (PNW), with excellent end-use quality.
IU Wheat Breeder Dr. Jianli Chen recently told the Idaho Wheat Commission (IWC) that IU wheat varieties help make wheat from Idaho and other PNW states more competitive in the world market. The IWC invests farmer checkoff funds in the ISU wheat breeding program.
Quality is part of Dr. Jianli Chen’s wheat breeding program at the University of Idaho. Photo courtesy of Jianli Chen.
Excellent Quality
Dr. Chen said a spring SW variety called UI Cookie and a HW variety called UI Jade Bronze from her program are showing promise for high yields and excellent functional milling and baking qualities. IWC research investment helped fund Dr. Chen’s UI Cookie development.
In addition, Dr. Chen and her UI colleagues are using genetic tools that speed up the wheat breeding process and identify traits in lines that can be crossed to make varieties more productive while using less fertilizer and water.
UI Cookie is a spring SW variety with excellent baking qualities developed by Dr. Chen with help from Idaho Wheat Commission checkoff funds. Photo courtesy of Jianli Chen.
Foundation Seed
The UI Foundation Seed Program maintains approximately 120 UI-produced varieties of wheat and other crops and UI research and extension center staff produce seed on university-owned owned farms. Finally, the Idaho Crop Improvement Association inspects seed fields for purity before seed can be sold to farmers. UI seed sales revenue is also invested back into the UI Foundation Seed program.
Washington State University
Washington State University (WSU) and the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) plant breeding programs focus on developing cultivars with high yield potential, excellent end-use quality, and resistance to stress. These programs have a successful record releasing new SW, Club, HRS and HRW wheat varieties that Pacific Northwest farmers want to plant.
Dr. Arron Carter holds the Orville A. Vogel Endowed Chair in Winter Wheat Breeding and Genetics at WSU. In collaboration with colleagues and Washington farmers, Dr. Carter says the program identifies genetic solutions to winter wheat varietal development and production problems. That, in turn, enhances the sustainability of the Washington wheat industry
Dr. Arron Carter, left, and Dr. Mike Pumphrey, right, jointly hold the Orville A. Vogel Endowed Chair in Wheat Breeding at Washington State University. Dr. Carter breeds winter wheat and Dr. Pumphrey breeds spring wheat varieties. Washington State University photo.
The WSU Extension Cereal Variety Testing Program gives growers and the agribusiness industry comprehensive information on winter and spring wheat adaptation and performance across the different climatic regions of eastern Washington. The program also offers WSU and USDA-ARS wheat breeding programs a uniform testing and evaluation program for preliminary wheat lines to help develop variety release recommendations to the Washington Agricultural Research Center.
A Note on Preferred Varieties
As trusted suppliers to domestic and overseas customers, organizations that represent PNW wheat farmers have long emphasized milling and baking quality improvement. The Washington Grain Commission was the first organization to collect wheat quality information and use the data to rate individual varieties on how they meet end-user quality standards. WGC provided the ratings to farmers in an annual Preferred Wheat Variety publication. Today, WGC, the Idaho Wheat Commission and the Oregon Wheat Commission publish one preferred variety booklet.
Milling and baking science is Dr. Andrew Ross’s domain at Oregon State University. Dr. Ross and colleagues also evaluate OSU wheat variety quality characteristics. Oregon State University photo.
The program reports that it tests more than 40,000 genetically distinct lines specifically for the Pacific Northwest. With wheat breeding, quality testing, and extension, the program works to meet the needs of the farmer, the miller, and the baker. OSU wheat varieties are widely planted in Oregon and neighboring Washington state as they are well adapted to those growing environments.
Making an Impact
Dr. Robert Zemetra, Oregon State University.
In this video produced by OSU, Dr. Zemetra and Dr. Ross talk about how their work on bread wheat affects the baking and farming communities in Oregon. Overseas buyers sourcing wheat from the Pacific Northwest know there is a positive impact in their markets, too.
OWC Funding
Oregon Wheat Commission (OWC) funding supports this team, including other colleagues, specifically to “develop new SW, HW, HRW and winter club wheat cultivars with superior end-use quality” adapted to Oregon’s growing regions that also increase economic returns to growers.
Additional funding for the program comes from the OSU Agricultural Research Foundation, commercial companies and royalties from the many wheat and cereal crop varieties it has developed.
Dr. Jorge Dubcovsky’s wheat breeding program at UC Davis has developed varieties with strong yield potential and excellent milling, baking and semolina qualities.
Dr. Jorge Dubcovsky leads the UC Davis Wheat Breeding Program and Molecular Genetics laboratory. An internationally recognized wheat breeder, Dr. Dubcovsky has, for the last 20 years, led a large consortium of U.S. public breeding programs aimed at improving breeding technologies and train new breeders. In addition, he has been a lead researcher in projects to improve wheat and barley water and fertilizer use and completed a project in 2014 aimed at “Improving California Wheat Quality and Nutritional Value.” In 2020, his UC Davis program received a grant to improve wheat’s dietary fiber content.
Fall-Seeded Spring Wheats
Producing wheat in a mild winter climate, farmers seed California wheat varieties in the fall and harvest the next summer. However, the varieties are genetically classified as spring wheat. The UC Davis program has developed wheat varieties with high water absorption, high viscosity and, based on the classification above, high stability and gluten strength. Dr. Dubcovsky’s program also focuses on developing wheat varieties with improved nutritional values.
Improved Quality and Demand
Together with UC Davis, the California Wheat Commission (CWC) also publishes an annual Preferred Variety List based on bread baking qualities. CWC recommends farmers to select varieties from the preferred class will help to increase the overall quality and desirability of California wheat.
A Note on Desert Durum®
The term Desert Durum® is a certification mark issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that describes “…at least 90% wheat grain produced under irrigation in the desert valleys and lowlands of Arizona or California.” The mark is jointly owned by the Arizona Grain Research and Promotion Council and the California Wheat Commission. Only parties granted permission by the owner(s) can describe grain as Desert Durum®.
Most of the Desert Durum® varieties now grown in the desert southwest are products of breeding programs conducted by both private firms and the public breeding program at UC Davis.
Arizona’s annual wheat crop consists mostly of durum varieties developed by private breeding programs that originated the modern Desert Durum® varieties over three decades ago. They continue their efforts today.
Most of California’s Desert Durum® production consists of varieties from the UC Davis breeding program that has been led by Dr. Jorge Dubcovsky for many years. These varieties include genes for increased grain protein and improved pasta color and gluten strength.
Identity Preserved
Desert Durum® is generally available to domestic and export markets as “identity preserved” grain by specific variety, which allows customers to acquire grain possessing quality traits that meet their specific needs. The identity preserved system allows customers to contract varieties and volumes with grain merchandisers who sell certified seed to experienced growers who maintain varietal identity throughout the planting, growing, harvesting, and delivery processes. Grain merchandisers then store the grain by variety and may ship on the customers’ preferred schedules.
Read about other U.S. wheat public breeding programs:
