Hybrid Wheat Goes to Market ... AgriPro Sells 'Very Limited Quantities' of Hybrid Wheat This Spring
AgriPro sells ‘very limited quantities’ of hybrid wheat this spring
After decades of research and development, commercialization of hybrid wheat seed becomes a reality this spring when Syngenta’s AgriPro brand will sell a limited amount of hybrid
red spring wheat to seed farmers in Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and Montana.
Other seed companies’ efforts to commercialize their own varieties of hybrid wheat are still several years off.
BASF plans to market hybrid wheat seeds through its Ideltis brand later this decade in North America.
Paul Morano, head of North American cereals for Syngenta, tells Milling Journal in a telephone interview that AgriPro will sell “very limited quantities” of hybrid wheat seeds, or enough to plant a few thousand acres, in the Northern Plains states this spring. “In 2023, we will have substantially more seed for sale,” says Morano, who is based in Loveland, CO.
“We will start selling the hybrid wheat through our dealers, and they will work with their customer base in the first year,” according to Morano. “We’ll try to sell it to as many farmers in as wide of an area as we can, so farmers can plant it in as many different areas as possible. In year two, there should be enough to satisfy a good amount of demand.”
Syngenta
Syngenta has been working on developing hybrid wheat since 2010. “We started our hybrid wheat journey in 2010 to find the right genetics and production system,” says Morano, although some Agripro researchers had been working on hybrid wheat for 30 years.
“People toyed with hybrid wheat during those years,” he states, “but there wasn’t a way to get there until recently. In the United States, we’ve made significant progress on developing hybrid wheat. Wheat hasn’t had a change in technology for many, many years. That’s why this development is very hopeful and very exciting.”
Syngenta has worked on developing hybrid wheat at its plant breeding research facilities in Junction City, KS, and Glyndon, MN.
AgriPro holds a 40% market share in varietal (conventional or self-crossing) hard red spring wheat in the U.S. Northern Plains, Morano notes. AgriPro has a 30% market share of the hard red winter wheat market in the United States.
Most wheat grown in the United States is winter wheat, Morano notes. Hybrid winter wheat sales are still a few years off, because winter wheat can’t be multiplied easily or inexpensively in warmer climates. In contrast, he says, hard red spring wheat can be produced in warmer climates like Arizona or Chile, so there will be more hybrid hard red spring wheat seed available this year.
Global hybrid wheat. Globally, he adds, Syngenta continues to work on hybrid wheat in all regions of the world. In May 2021, Syngenta AG announced plans to introduce four hybrid wheats in Europe under the X-Terra brand but has withdrawn its request for registration of the four varieties. “They are still working on hybrid wheat varieties [for European release]; they just will be using newer and different hybrids than they put in registration.”
Benefits. Morano predicts that it will take a few years for hybrid wheat to catch on, but the benefits wheat producers will see when they plant hybrid wheat seeds are twofold: First, hybrid wheat has a higher yield and, second, hybrids react well to stress and to variable field conditions. “What that equates to, at the end of day, is a better yield and more consistency in disease control and quality,” Morano says. “That consistency and stability will be a big thing.”
It doesn’t make economic sense to plant hybrid wheat unless it boosts yields by 10% or more, Morano adds. Hybrid wheat seeds cost more than conventional or self-crossing seed varieties, and farmers will expect to see higher yields if they pay more for their seeds. Agripro’s hybrid wheat yields at least 10% more than conventional wheat, he says.
Morano predicts that it will take a few years for hybrid wheat to catch on, but the benefits wheat producers will see when they plant hybrid wheat seeds are twofold: First, hybrid wheat has a higher yield and, second, hybrids react well to stress and to variable field conditions.
BASF
Garth Hodges, BASF North America’s vice president of North America Business Management for Seeds, says BASF has been investing in the development of hybrid wheat seed since August 2018, when it acquired certain seed and trait assets from Bayer. Prior to the 2018 acquisition, Bayer had been working on hybrid wheat for approximately 10 years.
“BASF has identified wheat as a strategic crop and has made a commitment to developing hybrid wheat, investing significantly in research and development (R&D), as well as establishing a dedicated team of experts around the world who focus exclusively on bringing hybrid wheat to market,” Hodges tells Milling Journal.
In North America, BASF has breeding stations in Lincoln, NE; Fargo, ND; and Saskatoon, SK, Canada. In Europe, BASF’s R&D Innovation Center & Molecular Breeding Center is in Ghent, Belgium.
“As part of our investment, we also collaborate with public and private partners around the world to access diverse germplasm, value-adding traits, seed production technology, and expertise,” Hodges relates. “We believe that collaboration and a collective investment in wheat innovation is essential to the success of this crop. That is why we work with public and private breeding institutions in key regions to support research for wheat on a global level. In the United States, for example, we have collaborated with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, South Dakota State University, and Texas A&M University.”
We believe that collaboration and a collective investment in wheat innovation is essential to the success of this crop.
-Garth Hodges, BASF
BASF’s hybrid wheat efforts are supported by an extensive global trial network, he states. Performance of hybrid wheat is being tested locally in a variety of growing conditions to discover the best agronomic fit and practices to optimize hybrid performance. “This provides ‘hands on’ growing experience in advance of evaluating launch hybrids and future hybrid generations,” Hodges notes.
Current focus. BASF is currently focused on introducing hybrid wheat into the more intensive production areas of North America, Hodges adds. “Adoption of hybrid wheat will depend on the value that it brings to the farmer and the end-user,” he says. The demands that farmers and end-users each have remain at the center of BASF’s research and development efforts. “But we also know that each region where hybrid wheat is introduced will have different adoption rates based on the local growing conditions of the production area. These variables remain integral to our breeding efforts, as well.”
Adoption of any new technology is always somewhat hesitant at first, Hodges states, starting with the testing of the novel technology and then learning and experiencing its benefits and value. Because hybrid wheat is a very complex project, he notes, the level of adoption also will be a function of performance and reliability. “Both producers and our company will be on the journey together.”
Early stages. Although BASF still is in the early stages of its hybrid wheat program, the company is seeing encouraging improvement and progress, according to Hodges. “BASF has a high emphasis on resolving key issues associated with the production of commercial quantities of hybrid seed. Hybrid wheat is a new and different hybrid crop, and the biological parameters associated with pollen movement require novel techniques for efficient hybrid seed production.”
BASF’s wheat breeders are creating hybrids that have qualities farmers are seeking, Hodges notes. Those qualities include disease resistance, yield, yield stability, and quality. “All those qualities contribute to achieving more consistency in an ever-changing world,” he adds.
Because hybrid technology allows plant breeders to choose the best traits from two parent seeds, breeders can produce an offspring that contains the positive characteristics of both parents, Hodges says. “Combined with the recommended agronomic practices, hybrid wheat should give farmers more opportunities to grow wheat more profitably, while balancing economic, societal, and environmental sustainability.”
BASF develops sales aspirations when it embarks on bold and innovative ventures, Hodges says. “These aspirations are what fuels the investment. Our focus remains on developing hybrid wheat seed that adds value for our grower customers, the value chain, and the end user; however, at this time we do not have specific sales targets to share. Suffice to say, wheat is and will continue to be a very important food crop globally with large acres and potential.”
Jerry Perkins, contributing editor
