Association Perspectives

Bringing Biotech to Wheat

By Daren Coppock,
Chief Executive Officer, National Association of Wheat Growers

The mixture of a 30-year downtrend in wheat acres, strong biofuels demand creating acre competition, higher commodity prices and low global wheat stocks has created an opportunity to open the door to commercialization of biotechnology traits in wheat.

NAWG held a strategic planning retreat in early January, and one of our four strategic initiatives is to increase national average wheat yields by 20 percent by 2018. NAWG’s Board of Directors firmly believes that this goal will only be met using biotechnology.

NAWG and U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) are pursuing biotechnology aggressively and have undertaken four specific initiatives to achieve commercialization.

First, we have initiated communication with producer and industry groups in Canada and Australia with a goal of coordinating our efforts toward commercialization. The three countries comprised 49 percent of world wheat exports in 2006/07, and bringing traits online concurrently in all three markets should help with market acceptance.  There were supportive audiences in both countries and dialogue continues, including a meeting between U.S. and Canadian groups during the Commodity Classic.

Second, NAWG and the North American Millers’ Association (NAMA) have been coordinating a Wheat Summit workgroup on biotechnology.  The Summit includes representatives from all sectors of the wheat value chain, from input providers all the way to branded food companies and everyone in between.  The workgroup has been discussing the challenges that need to be addressed to bring traits online in wheat and has adopted a goal of defining an enabling environment for commercializing biotech traits in wheat.

Third, the NAWG and USW Joint Biotechnology Committee is making visits to a number of technology providers in April and May to encourage their re-engagement in wheat research and trait development. Critical issues like value-capture mechanisms and how to address saved seed will be central to those discussions.

Fourth, USW has elevated the topic of biotechnology in its presentations and visits with foreign buyers.  The fact that biotech is coming to wheat has been featured on the programs of regional buyer conferences organized by USW over the last three years.

Unfortunately, food chain concerns over customer acceptance of biotech food products has caused a number of companies to withdraw or reduce their investments in wheat.  Three traits are presently in the universe of likely first introductions – drought tolerance, fusarium resistance and RoundUp Ready. Only drought tolerance and fusarium resistance are the subjects of any active work, so one of them (or a stack of both) is the most likely trait to be first to market. And unless the industry can provide a clear path to market for one or both of them, it will be very difficult to attract investment to develop new traits.

Access to biotechnology is critical for wheat’s competitiveness and future.  We’re working hard to prepare the way for commercialization at the earliest possible opportunity.