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Kansas City business leaders learn about wheat businessLost acres, stagnant yields, cost of production and competition from other crops are all part of the conundrum facing the wheat industry. Members of the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City heard how the wheat industry is facing these challenges during their monthly meeting on Oct. 15. They heard from Justin Gilpin, CEO of Kansas Wheat, and Darren Coppock, CEO of the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG). Even in Kansas, the wheat state, the number of acres devoted to wheat production is trending downward. Other crops like corn and soybeans are taking acres away from wheat production. Gilpin said the late fall harvest this year will likely take a few more acres away from wheat because soybeans double-cropped behind wheat will not be harvested in time to plant wheat. "Over the past 10 years, we have not seen a gradual increase in wheat in the state of Kansas," Gilpin said. The reason is profitability. Over that time period, the net return from corn and soybeans has been higher than wheat. "How do we make wheat a profitably option for farmers in Kansas?" Gilpin asked. Creating better wheat varieties with higher yields through biotechnology is one answer. Gilpin noted private seed companies are getting back into the wheat breeding and development business. Gilpin said they want to give producers the best varieties and best opportunities possible to have a profitable operation. Until recently, most wheat breeding was done in the public sector by land grant universities and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Now that the private sector is showing renewed interest in wheat, the industry will need to find a way to merge these two together. The Kansas Innovation Center for Advanced Plant Design is a joint effort between Kansas Wheat, K-State, and the University of Kansas for accelerated research. Its mission is to accelerate the research, development and commercialization of profitable innovations by achieving dramatic improvement in the market performance of native and cultivated plants like wheat, grain sorghum, and energy crops. The Kansas Association of Wheat Growers incorporated the business entity for the Innovation Center, called Heartland Plant Innovations. Wheat producers through KAWG own 51 percent of the shares of Heartland Plant Innovations. "As we move forward and make decisions about biotechnology and collaborating with industry partners, we need to make the right traits at the right time to make this work," Gilpin said. The wheat industry is heavily dependent on the export market; and development of any new biotech varieties will need acceptance by overseas buyers. Coppock said biotech traits of interest are yield, drought tolerance, and disease resistance. NAWG is working with its counterparts in Canada and Australia for coordinated release of new biotech wheat varieties. Coppock said this has to be an industry-wide effort and not just something that producers care about. Market acceptance is vital to the success of any new wheat varieties. Coppock said China is currently working on biotech wheat traits and may be ahead of the U.S. and that Australia is ahead of the U.S. specifically on the development of drought tolerant varieties. "Biotech will be part of the solution, but it will not be the only one," Coppock said. "But biotechnology has to be part of the answer." Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304 or by e-mail at richhpj@aol.com.
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