Dakota Growers Pasta Launches Durum Breeding Program

By Tracy Sayler

Dakota Growers Pasta Company has launched its own durum breeding program headed by James Quick, who will serve as a consulting durum breeder for the company.

Quick retires as head of the Colorado State University Soil and Crop Sciences Department on June 30, 2003.  His experience in plant breeding and genetics spans about 40 years, including 12 from 1969 to 1981 as a durum breeder at North Dakota State University, where he developed 10 durum wheat varieties, including the first semi-dwarf and the first strong gluten cultivars developed for the major durum region of the U.S.

For several years, DGP has already been working with Quick and Western Plant Breeders to conduct field trials, including research on Fusarium head blight resistance, which has been causing durum quality problems. 

DGP is not the first grain processor to develop varieties to fit its needs—Busch Ag’s development of barley varieties and Red River Commodities development of sunflower hybrids are examples. However, DGP will be the first pasta maker to develop its own durum varieties.

Having its own breeding program will allow DGP to develop specialized durum to fill niche or identity-preserved markets. The company already has pasta customers that request specialized semolina, says Brad Miller, the com-pany’s research agronomist.  The establishment of a durum breeding program fits into the company’s objective to satisfy growing IP market opportunities.

Miller says the creation of its own private durum breeding program does not mean that Dakota Growers Pasta isn’t satisfied with the durum breeding program at North Dakota State University. 

“Dr. Elias (Elias Elias, NDSU’s durum breeder) has released numerous varieties with good agronomic and quality attributes in recent years, and we hope we may be able to work very closely with NDSU in the coming years,” says Miller. “Breeding is a numbers game. With more breeders working on a problem such as scab, and with more crosses being made with more diverse genetic material, the better the chances that a scab resistant variety will be found. We will also be able to respond more quickly to fill niche or IP markets.”

Organized in 1991 as a cooperative of durum wheat growers, Dakota Growers Pasta is the third largest producer of dry pasta products in North America, and is the leading supplier of retail store brand pasta and a leader in the foodservice and ingredient pasta markets. The company’s processing plants in Carrington, N.D., and New Hope, Minn., employ over 400 people.  Grower members voted to convert the company from a closed cooperative to a common stock corporation last year.