Wheat diseases becoming a national priority

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Prairie Grains is the
official publication of
the Minnesota
Association of
Wheat Growers,
North Dakota Grain Growers Association,
South Dakota Wheat,
Inc., and the
Minnesota Barley
Growers Association

On the other hand, Fusarium head blight, or scab, has been a more tangible disease. Yield and quality losses from scab, and its toxic byproduct, vomitoxin, have devastated half of the six major U.S. wheat classes and have plagued the U.S. malt barley industry during the 1990s.

TCK Smut

TCK smut is a fungal disease that is found primarily in the Pacific Northwest states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It is not new; for many years, the disease has been a minor production problem but a huge export problem, primarily with China, which has long banned imports of wheat with TCK smut with a zero tolerance policy. TCK poses no risk to human health, and many in the U.S. grain industry say China uses the issue merely as a trade barrier. The Chinese maintain that TCK is not present in China and that extraordinary steps are needed to protect the domestic wheat crop, no matter how infinitesimal the outside risk.

China has used TCK in the past to negotiate a price discount with exporters, but created a fervor last July by using the issue (and vomitoxin in soft red winter wheat) to reject U.S. wheat shipments. U.S. wheat and barley insiders say price was the real issue; TCK was a ploy to reschedule shipments of U.S. grain at a cheaper price. The strategy apparently worked: the TCK issue with China last July was a factor in shooting the wheat price down at that time to lows not seen since last January.

"TCK has locked us out of the Chinese market. They won’t lift any wheat out of Portland, including hard red spring wheat, because of TCK, even though it would be $3 to $10 a ton cheaper for them to do so, rather than going through the Gulf. There’s no way to guess how much business we’ve lost because of this issue, but it’s been sizeable," says Tom Mick, CEO of the Washington Wheat Commission.

Karnal bunt

Karnal bunt (Kb), a fungal disease which can affect wheat, including durum (but not barley, oats, or rye), caused the greatest shake-up of fungal diseases in wheat this year. The disease is caused by a smut fungus and spread by spores. Kb poses no threat to human health, but infected grain will yield slightly less, and quality becomes affected.

The disease, first reported in 1931, near the city of Karnal, India (hence the name) has since been found in other countries, including Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Mexico. Kb was officially detected in the United States for the first time last March, although industry insiders say Kb spores were likely present in the Southwest U.S. years before then.

To prevent the spread of Kb into noninfected areas of the United States, and to protect the integrity of the U.S. wheat export market (valued at $4.9 billion in fiscal year 1995) the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued an emergency federal quarantine on the entire state of Arizona, and several counties in New Mexico, Texas, and California.

Kb detections were isolated even in the quarantine area, which as Gregg Doud, of U.S. Wheat Associates points out, represented less than ½ of 1 percent of U.S. wheat production:

Texas: Tests of wheat from two quarantined Texas counties turned up negative.

California: positive fields represented less than 3% of the total acreage in the quarantine area (3,389 acres out of a total of 129,956, or 69 fields out of 2,326.) Total planted wheat acreage in California this year was 780,000.

New Mexico: fields known to have been planted with contaminated wheat amounted to a little over 3,200 acres in 4 New Mexico counties, according to Natalie Goldberg, New Mexico State University extension plant pathologist. Overall, 470,000 acres of wheat were planted in New Mexico in 1996.

Arizona: 4% of fields tested positive with one or more spores in the samples, says Ken Boyd, with the AZ Dept. of Agriculture, and over 80% of the diseased fields were concentrated in one part of one county in a state that produces wheat in six counties.

And thus far, in a national survey of grain handling facilities, over 50% complete at the end of October, 1996, there have been only four confirmed positive detections of Kb spores in samples outside the original quarantine area thus far—one in California and three in Alabama (note: the discovery of spores does not mean that Karnal bunt is established; certain conditions are needed for the spores to trigger the fungus).

On Nov. 4, revised Kb regulations went into effect, based on the amount of Kb risk in two distinct boundary areas in the Southwest U.S.

Restricted areas: include fields which tested positive for Kb in 1996. Wheat from restricted areas must test negative twice, then may be moved under a limited permit to approved milling or storage facilities, and is subject to safeguard and sanitation conditions.

Surveillance areas: fields on the fringe where wheat did not test positive for Kb, but were associated with contaminated seed or equipment. After testing negative for Kb twice, wheat from surveillance areas may be certified for export or unrestricted movement to domestic markets.

On the export front, USDA and the U.S. wheat industry have been successful in working with most wheat importing countries to develop new export certificate language, to accept wheat from areas of the United States where Kb is not known to occur. Without the current USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) specification on export certificates, which assures that wheat shipments originated from a Kb-free area of the U.S., "we would have an export problem, just like Chinese with TCK," says Neal Fisher, deputy administrator of the North Dakota Wheat Commission.

Scab and Vomitoxin

It’s estimated that wheat growers in N.D. have lost well over $1 billion to scab in the 1990s, and wheat and barley growers in Minnesota, about $1.2 billion.

Scab affected the Northern Plains in 1996 for the fourth year running, and durum growers were particularly stung by the disease. "Scab in durum ranged from 5 percent to 90 percent, depending on the field. There was a lot of scab in durum north of Highway 2, and from Minot east to Devils Lake. It’s getting to the point where we don’t want rain in July," says Richard Haugeberg, with the U.S. Durum Growers Association, who farms near Max, N.D.

A better overall growing season masked the yield effect of scab in the Red River Valley, says Bruce Hamnes, vice chair of the Minnesota Wheat Research and Promotion Council, Stephen, Minn. "Yields in the 40s should have been 10 to 15 bushels better," he says.

Vomitoxin, scab’s toxic by-product, was prevalent in barley on both sides of the Minnesota-North Dakota border, causing price discounts and knocking many growers out of the malting barley market.

Scab and vomitoxin were significant problems this year in the soft red winter wheat growing area, which includes Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas, and Kentucky. Michigan’s ag director said that "wet weather and warm temperatures have created the worst outbreak of wheat scab in that state in 100 years." It was the second major scab outbreak for the SRW growing area in the 1990s, with the previous occurrence in 1991.

SRW market discounts in many cases were even more heavy-handed than the 1993 scab outbreak in the Northern Plains. Vomitoxin in milled flour cannot exceed one part per million, according to guidelines set by the Food and Drug Administration. Illinois miller Rick Siemer says dockage for vomitoxin was as much as $1.50 per bushel early in the SRW harvest, leveling to 50 cents per bushel as the harvest progressed and panic on managing infected grain eased.

Some highly infected SRW didn’t even qualify for a bid, according to Pro Farmer News, and ended up in landfills.

Vomitoxin Major Trade Problem

Another element to the vomitoxin problem in SRW in 1996 was the Chicago futures market. Vomitoxin in wheat delivered against futures contracts is a gray area in trading at the Chicago Board of Trade.

In a July 23, 1996 letter to USDA Secretary Dan Glickman, CBOT Chairman Patrick Arbor said that "it is possible that the CBOT’s delivery warehouses could become a dumping ground for wheat with high levels of vomitoxin, since it would be anticipated that such wheat would be used for delivery purposes. If this happens, the pricing structure of the CBOT’s wheat futures market could potentially become distorted, resulting in reduced hedging effectiveness and loss of liquidity."

Arbor continued that "the CBOT urges USDA to quickly provide clarification on what level of vomitoxin, if any, causes wheat to be considered unmerchantable, or to not meet the requirements for U.S. Number 2 Soft Red Winter Wheat. Quick and decisive action will help ensure the continued viability of the CBOT’s wheat futures contract and the entire U.S . wheat industry as a source of safe and reliable wheat and wheat products."

The issue remains unresolved, says CBOT spokesperson Deborah Kostroun.

Vomitoxin can indeed lower the value of spring wheat, and uncertainty about it in the marketplace lowers the value further, according to a 1995 NDSU study. Vomitoxin price discounts at N.D. grain elevators in 1993 reduced the income of N.D. farmers by $86 million. Some of that figure was caused by actual vomitoxin; some by uncertainty about vomitoxin levels. Unknown or variable quality means more risk for grain buyers.

"One of the major concerns that’s raised by foreign grain buyers is the lack of uniformity in performance, or what is sometimes referred to as lack of consistency," says William Wilson, one of the NDSU study authors. "And a major challenge to the people in the grain marketing system, from breeders and farmers through the entire system, is to create a more uniform product."

The NDSU study revealed that increasing variability of quality factors not only decreases the value of the crop, but can disrupt normal trade flow patterns. In 1993, for example, some exporters on the Pacific Coast did not specify vomitoxin quality standards in their contracts, but the milling market in Minneapolis did. As a result, much of the scab-infected wheat in eastern N.D. went west to the Pacific, and much of the scab-free wheat in western N.D. went east to Minneapolis—opposite the usual shipping flow.

Top Post-GATT Priority:

Disease Tolerances With more countries (such as China with TCK) using stringent quality standards as trade barriers, phytosanitary or grain quality issues figure to be high on the agenda of the World Trade Organization (WTO), successor to the General Agreement for Tariffs and Trade (GATT) as the vehicle to address post-GATT global trade issues.

Karen Fegley, director of the Wheat Export Trade Education Committee, says that sanitary/phytosanitary (SPS) barriers to trade, along with state trading enterprises (wheat boards) remain as unfinished business of the Uruguay Round.

Indeed, although better testing, control, and treatment methods may help manage some diseases and toxins, more likely solutions for answering problems such as TCK and Kb lie in trade negotiations and reasonable, uniform phytosanitary regulations.

Former U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor has carried his stand on TCK and China to his new job as U.S. Commerce Secretary, and continues to seek elimination of the 24-year old barrier to U.S. wheat.

And, the USDA is increasing its resources devoted to SPS issues. "In the near term, commodity groups would like to see high-level, centralized oversight of SPS disputes as they arise. With time and experience, the ag organizations would like to see the U.S. lead the way in the establishment of a risk-assessment framework and a standard dispute settlement procedure for review and possible adoption by the international community," says Fegley.

Just as Congress fixed the Delaney Clause’s unreasonable zero tolerance stand on pesticide residues, adjusting SPS zero tolerances will be an issue that U.S. commodity groups will want U.S. trade officials to bring to the WTO.

"SPS issues represent the new frontier in trade," says Fegley. "There is a lot to learn about how the world and the U.S. can best respond to the handling of these measures and their effect on trade flows and competition. So far, the wheat industry is learning by crisis management. There is hope that lessons learned well can be applied in a manner satisfactory to U.S. producers who are increasingly dependent on access to foreign markets for their income."

Answer To Scab Lies In Research

While TCK and Kb are political issues that need to be resolved at the negotiating table, the solution to scab looks to be the laboratory.

Most crop scientists agree that long-term scab solutions lie squarely in research and crop breeding; in developing new resistant varieties. Otherwise, weather will have each succeeding wheat and barley crops growing on pins and needles. "We shouldn’t be afraid of a two-inch rain," says Roger Jones, University of Minnesota extension plant pathologist.

Jim Miller, vice president of government affairs with the National Association of Wheat Growers, says wheat diseases must be made a national priority. "Fungal diseases are affecting every wheat growing area of the country. TCK smut, Karnal bunt, and scab are diseases which differ in many ways, but the bottom line is that they’re impacting wheat prices. We need to find ways to address them."

Miller agrees that better tolerances for wheat diseases are needed on the trade side. For producers in the short-term, he says the change in the Delaney Clause may expand fungicide options for disease control, and treatment allowances under some existing fungicides.

Longer term, Miller says the timing is good for the NAWG and affiliated state associations to organize a wheat-industry task force or coalition to urge that Congress make scab a national research priority.

"I think it’s doable, and a coalition would be the vehicle to create a ground swell to get it done. Including agribusiness, chemical companies, and others in the industry, this would be a powerful force, and I believe this could be a project that can draw support," says Miller.

One ally in such an effort may include the Millers’ National Federation. Jim Bair, vice president of the MNF, says mycotoxin research is a top priority for millers; particularly DON, or vomitoxin.

At the NAWG’s summer meeting in Sun Valley, Idaho, Bair said that "we believe it is misguided to spend precious funds on Karnal bunt when it has no human health effects, and is of very little importance to growers, relative to the many other pests that they face," Bair says. "MNF wishes to pursue a partnership with wheat growers on mycotoxin research, especially DON, which is a known health hazard."

Miller says a national scab research task force would need to eye the Fiscal Year 1998 federal budget for scab research funding support. Or, urge that existing funds within the USDA-Ag Research Service be redirected from less critical research projects.

Making Scab A Federal Priority

Federal funding support for scab research will be a challenge, as agricultural research overall has not been a priority on Capitol Hill.

Since 1980, real ag research spending has grown by a mere $100 million, according to a recent Kiplinger report on the subject. The federal ag research budget was about $1.36 billion in fiscal year 1996, which when adjusted for inflation, was $50 million less than in FY ’95.

Future ag research funding will face a tough litmus test in the federal budget deficit. And, the Kiplinger editors point out that not only will there be federal funding competition from other research areas, such as defense and health, but competition for bites within the ag research slice of the pie itself: sustainable ag vying with large-scale commercial farming for research funding; production ag vying with forestry, gardening, and rural living; basic science (studying how things work) versus applied science (finding ways to use or apply basic science findings).

The biggest slice of the federal budget for research and development (R&D) goes for national defense. In 1994, the federal government spent $66.5 billion for R&D, of which 57% was for defense. Of the non-defense federal R&D budget, the largest share went for health research at 37%; followed by science and space at 32%. The federal ag research budget was 4%, according to USDA.

Despite agriculture’s small share of research funding, scab’s growing prominence as a production problem makes federal attention promising.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), who also serves on the Senate Ag Committee, says "wheat disease research is essential to the future of the U.S. wheat industry, especially with the problems we have seen over the past few years with diseases such as Karnal bunt and wheat scab."

Three steps must be taken to address these problems, says Daschle: Congress must reauthorize agricultural research programs which expire in 1998. Further, Congress must provide adequate funding. "And finally, members of Congress from wheat-growing regions need to work with wheat producers and their organizations to ensure that wheat disease research ranks high in federal research priorities," he says.

"USDA is starting to look at it," says Albert Schneiter, chair of NDSU’s plant sciences department. "The fact that the SRW area got hit makes this more of a national thing rather than regional. It’s more than a Minnesota-North Dakota problem."

Indeed, NDSU extension plant pathologist Marcia McMullen, says her counterpart in Ohio has estimated the losses due to scab this year in that state: 1.3 million acres were affected, with an estimated loss of $72.5 million.

"Part of the problem for us in a major corn and soybean area is that it’s difficult to get people to concentrate on wheat. More recognition of the importance of small grains here is needed, but the epidemics of scab are bringing it to the forefront," says Walker Kirby, crop scientist at the University of Illinois, Urbana.

The U of M’s Roger Jones points out that even Kansas was affected with 8% scab infections statewide in 1991. For a big wheat-producing state like Kansas, "8% is a bunch of wheat," he says.

McMullen says about 1 million acres in north east and north central ND were impacted by scab this year, with an average of 30-40% yield loss in durum on those acres, and 5-10% yield loss in HRS wheat, plus severe vomitoxin discounts in barley. "So, we have big economic losses, and with wide regions of the country impacted, it is of national concern," she says.

There is precedence for federally-earmarked research projects, confined to more narrow geographic ranges, says McMullen. One example is the jointed goat grass management project, and Russian Wheat Aphid funding.

NDSU crop researcher Len Francl has a $100,000 grant through the National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program to study the epidemiology of leaf diseases of wheat.

However, only a small portion of this grant, $16,000, was designated for scab research. Aside from that, and a separate USDA special project funded for barley genome mapping, "to the best of our knowledge in the plant pathology department, no other NRI (competitive grant) money has been received at NDSU for scab research," says McMullen.

"I think that because weeds and insects are more readily seen, they sometimes get more attention, but the overall impact of these two pests, jointed goatgrass and Russian wheat aphid, cannot begin to match that of the scab disease, within a given year or over a geographic area," she says.

"I believe that the NAWG, and the state associations, have to be vocal and urge funding for scab research, in order for any federal support to be realized," says McMullen.

Phil Larson, associate dean at the U of M college of ag agrees, that it will take "a delegation of producers to go to the USDA-ARS program leader to make a plea." Larson points out that Minnesota’s head wheat breeder (Bob Busch) and head barley breeder (Don Rasmusson) will both retire at the end of this decade. "We need to think about that," he says.

Jones says that in addition to a direct allocation out of USDA’s existing budget for ag research, another federal funding mechanism might be funding support for the North Central Regional Committee, or NCR-184.

The Committee includes representatives from land grant universities in 10 North Central states, from Ohio to North Dakota. Pat Lipps from Ohio State is current committee chair, and U of M plant pathologist Ruth Dill-Macky serves as vice chair. Committee advisor is Bob Todd, NDSU experiment stations director.

Jones says the North Central Committee first met at the 1994 Regional Scab Forum in Fargo. Like other regional research-based committees, the North Central Committee in its infancy could not qualify for any funding beyond an annual meeting. However, the Committee is now at a point where it may qualify for federally-funded research projects.

Being a funded committee would essentially give federal teeth to the Committee in planning and researching the scab problem. Like other crop scientists, Jones says "this is the kind of action" that may be keyed by state wheat associations and the NAWG. Wheat growers can give weight to the effort through their 1997 state and national resolutions, he says.

Jerry Kruger, Warren, who has served on the boards of the Minnesota Wheat Research and Promotion Council and the Minnesota Association of Wheat Growers, is one of several Minnesota wheat growers strong on research, who suggest that a "National Spring Wheat Disease Resistance/Tolerance Program" be created.

Or even that the USDA-ARS Cereal Rust Lab in St. Paul be widened in scope and renamed, to perhaps the "National Wheat Disease Center."

Kruger says a strong scab research initiative has been developed in the Northern Plains, but it needs to be advanced to the national agenda. "Scab is like a thief that robs during the night. I’ve been robbed four times, and it’s about time we put it away," says Kruger.

In the 1980s, two major competitors in international grain markets—Canada and Australia—were spending almost twice as much as the U.S. on research relative to the size of their agricultural economies, says Kruger.

Scab is a wheat disease that affects trade and production worldwide, says Kruger, pointing out that the disease has been a decades-long problem in China; has caused problems in Europe and Canada, and most recently, has become worrisome in Argentina.

"As growers, we’ve paid our dues to scab. With less volume and food safety a concern, now is the time for the general population to get involved," Kruger says.

The sentiment for public ag research support is echoed by David Frey, administrator of the Kansas Wheat Commission. The so-called "green revolution" of the 1960s and 70s was mostly funded by public money, he points out, and if that green revolution is to be sustained, public funding support for wheat breeding must continue.

"Farmers require new kinds of wheat seed to stay ahead of new diseases and wheat pests. World population growth demands higher yielding crops grown on the same size land area."

Frey says that the bulk of wheat breeding support will have to come from public, not commercial sources. Even development of seed sold by private companies relies on genetic material from federal and state-supported wheat breeding. Further, he says the long-term, sustained effort required for developing better varieties is not attractive to private investors.

"Research is the only way to secure future production of wheat, the most consumed food in the world," Frey says. "Federal wheat research should be a security issue and a priority for bolstered U.S. government investment in light of increased population and environmental pressures. Federally-funded wheat research is not a farm issue; in fact, it doesn’t even involve payments to farmers. The issue is food."

December 1995