BRECKENRIDGE, Minn. - The passage of Minnesota' wheat referendum last year raised the checkoff from one cent to two cents per bushel.
More dollars won't mean a big increase in the number of new wheat varieties.
"We don't want to jump up," said Minnesota Association of Wheat Growers executive director Dave Torgerson. "We want to develop the program."
Torgerson made the remarks at the recent Small Grains Update workshop in Breckenridge.
Wheat breeders from Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota are working together to develop varieties and are sharing germplasm. The effort is a win-win for producers and researchers, said North Dakota State University wheat specialist Mohamed Mergoum. It has increased the efficiency of the breeding programs. They jointly released cultivars and the program is sustaining the public breeding program for the long-term.
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More than 70 percent of the U.S. wheat acreage comes from public breeding programs, said Minnesota wheat breeder Jim Anderson. Germplasm is the most valuable asset. Greater collaboration among public programs is encouraged by U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative and the Minnesota Wheat Research and Promotion Council.
Over the last two years, changes have taken place in the wheat seed industry. Dow purchased Worldwide Wheat. Monsanto purchased Westbred with germplasm access agreements with Kansas State University and Virginia Tech. Bayer initiated wheat breeding programs with germplasm access agreements with the University of Nebraska and the purchase of two Ukrainian wheat breeding programs.
Public programs may have to work with those programs or be shut out, he said.
"But we don't want to go the way of soybeans," Anderson said.
The wheat associations and wheat breeders are taking a cautious look at genetically modified varietal research. They don't want the public programs to lose germplasm through GMO development.
As NDSU looks at the objectives in enhanced wheat technology, it seeks to protect and preserve the value of NDSU/public germplasm, said Mergoum. Researchers want producers to have timely access to enhanced wheat technology.
The future includes germplasm exchanges and establishment of policies to protect them, Mergoum said.
Wheat varieties Faller and RB07 have quickly become dominant varieties, said Northwest Research and Outreach Center small grains specialist Jochum Wiersma. Several varieties have been released over the last two years. New releases in 2010 included Pivot, WB-Digger and WB-Lyn, all WestBred varieties.
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New releases for this year include SY-Soren, a RB07/Brennan type; SY-Tyra, with a solid stem; Select, a South Dakota State University variety; WB-Mayville, which is like Samson with better FHB protection; and Rollag, also known as MN05214-3.
