Wheat Quality Council Hears Panel on Biotech

Biotechnology in wheat was the topic of a panel discussion at the recent annual Wheat Quality Council meeting in Kansas City, Mo. The WQC meets annually in February to review end-use quality of pre-release varieties of wheat for Hard Red Winter, Hard Red Spring and Eastern Soft Red Winter wheat classes. The meeting provides a valuable forum for breeders, wheat commissions, government agencies, growers, millers, bakers and seed companies to exchange viewpoints and recommendations relative to wheat quality.

The biotech panel discussion included Rollie Sears from AgriPro, a business unit of Syngenta Seeds; John Oades, West Coast Office Director for U.S. Wheat Associates; Bill Wilson, Agricultural Economics Professor from North Dakota State University; and NAWG CEO Daren Coppock.

The panel expressed a uniformly optimistic view of biotechnology, with each speaker addressing a different angle on the challenges and opportunities presented.

Sears outlined the considerations that Syngenta will evaluate when deciding whether to move its fusarium tolerance trait to commercialization. He also described the rigorous and expensive process that companies must navigate to commercialize transgenic traits.  While Syngenta is continuing its test plot program in 2006, the company has not yet made a decision to submit the trait for regulatory approval and begin pre-commercialization activities.  Results from the data to date have been very encouraging.

Coppock outlined the grower position on biotechnology from a competitiveness perspective. Since 1980, U.S. wheat acreage has declined by 30 percent. In many parts of the country, wheat is being displaced by other crops. USDA’s Wheat Backgrounder, published in December by the Economic Research Service (ERS), points out that most of this acreage is being replaced by corn and soybeans – crops that have launched transgenic traits.  Comparative returns are driving these trends and, therefore, wheat must take aggressive steps to improve its competitiveness compared to other competing crops. Biotechnology can play an important role in this equation, either by reducing production costs or increasing value through quality or specific functionality improvements. The need for competitiveness-boosting technology is critical, he argued: commercialization of transgenic traits is no longer a question of “if,” but “when.”

Oades reviewed the international market environment into which these products would be introduced, segmenting the market into customers who are open, more willing and less willing. These attitudes are dependent on a number of varying factors, but include consumer preferences, consumer confidence in regulatory agencies, development level of the country and sophistication of the market.  He outlined outreach activities underway by U.S. Wheat Associates working with customers in preparing markets for transgenic traits.

Wilson summarized studies he has conducted on issues like segregation, predicted changes in producer and consumer welfare from commercialization, price impacts on competing (conventional) technologies following commercialization and other related issues.  He argued (and supported with data) that there is customer value in the fusarium tolerance trait, through improved grain quality, higher quality of the protein within the grain and the likelihood of expanded supply and lower costs. The high costs of commercialization present a daunting risk picture to companies, and they must have reasonable assurance of return on investment to undertake costly regulatory and commercialization processes. 

The WQC meeting concluded with technical end-use quality reviews of varieties either in consideration for release or recently released by public and private breeding programs. See some of these varietal notes online: www.wheatqualitycouncil.org . Click on ‘Annual Meeting.’