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Friday, August 7, 2020 CapitalPress.com 9 Companies say new collaboration advances hybrid wheat development By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press A new partnership will allow researchers to more efficiently cre- ate higher-yielding wheat hybrids, representatives of BASF and Pow- erPollen say. BASF will use PowerPollen’s pollen preservation and application technology to improve cross-polli- nation and enhance BASF’s pro- prietary wheat program. Financial terms of the agree- ment were not disclosed. Already used in corn, the technol- ogy has the potential to collect, pre- serve and apply wheat pollen on a commercial scale, increasing polli- nation efficiency for hybrid wheat seed production, according to a joint press release. “Pollen has a certain shelf life,” Gustavo Gonzalez, director of global wheat crop strategy for BASF, told the Capital Press. “In the case of wheat, it is well-known that within the first five minutes of it being shed, it loses its potential.” PowerPollen preserves the pol- len’s viability after collection, Gonzalez said. Hybrid wheat is slated to be released to farmers in the mid-2020s. BASF has been working on hybrid wheat for 10 years, focus- Matthew Weaver/Capital Press File Hard red spring wheat grows near Prosser, Wash. BASF is working with PowerPollen to develop new wheat hybrids. ing on hard red winter and hard red spring wheat, Gonzalez said. The hybrids will be the first gen- eration after the cross-pollination of two genetically diverse wheat par- ents, according to BASF. Breeders hope to be able to “stack” several traits that are resis- tant to diseases, insects and stress. Both the male and female parental lines will be developed and selected for desired agronomic, disease and quality characteristics. The technology also helps breed- ers fast-track a key trait, such as dis- ease resistance, into a parent, and have it enter the hybrid in a faster, more efficient way than traditional breeding, Gonzalez said. The hybridization process does not involve genetic modification, and BASF has no plans to com- mercially release genetically mod- ified wheat seed, according to the company. BASF expects a yield boost of 5% to 7%, depending on the hybrid and location, Gonzalez said. Hybrids give farmers a new set of tools to produce crops more effi- ciently, he said. The company is also working “diligently” to meet their agronomic needs, he said, including seeding rates and nitrogen management. “These are all things BASF is working to be able to provide farm- ers so they can get the best results out of those seeds,” he said. Pulse industry asks USDA Senators urge stronger protection of common food names to purchase excess stocks By Capital CAROL Press RYAN DUMAS By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press The pulse industry is ask- ing the USDA to help reduce excess stocks in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council hopes the agency will purchase at least 150,000 metric tons of more than 300,000 metric tons of dry peas; at least 40,000 tons of 82,000 metric tons of len- tils and at least 100,000 met- ric tons of 196,000 metric tons of chickpeas, said CEO Tim McGreevy. “We’re optimistic we’re going to work through these stocks,” McGreevy said Pulses were cut out of the 2020 trade mitigation package announced in Jan- uary because the indus- try received a small market facilitation payment. “Since that time, we still are facing considerable excess stocks,” McGreevy said, citing trade barriers in China and India. Fresh green peas are eli- gible for the Coronavi- rus Food Assistance Pro- gram (CFAP), but not dry peas, lentils or chickpeas, because they don’t meet the USDA’s benchmark of a 5% price decline and don’t have product that needed to be destroyed because it could not be delivered, McGreevy said. Prices increased slightly, McGreevy said, but started out at lev- els below cost of production. Ye l l o w pea prices Tim range from McGreevy 7 to 10 cents per pound; green peas range from 10 to 13 cents per pound. Len- tils range from 15 to 17 cents per pound and chickpeas range from 16 to 20 cents per pound, depending on size. “We’re still at very low price levels right now for all these crops,” he said. “We still have a lot to move, and a lot available.” Pea and chickpea acres declined, and lentil acres increased slightly nation- wide. McGreevy expects average yields in the upcom- ing harvest. “We’d sure like to see some of this product moved prior to the new harvest get- ting here,” he said. Demand has increased worldwide as consum- ers turn to the crops, eating from home and looking for shelf-stable food in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, McGreevy said. “We think we have an opportunity actually to sus- tain these levels of sales for the next few years as people make some adjustments and get used to using these prod- ucts,” he said. A bipartisan group of 61 senators last week sent a let- ter urging the Trump admin- istration to prioritize market access for U.S. food exports by strengthening safeguards for the use of common food names. U.S. dairy groups say the letter is a direct challenge to the European Union’s mis- use of protections meant for valid geographic indica- tions to block U.S. exports of generic food and wine names such as parmesan, bologna and chateau. It’s a “very significant barrier that has been in play for some time” in terms of its significant impact on the dairy industry and dairy farmers, Tom Vilsack, presi- dent and CEO of U.S. Dairy Export Council, said in a media briefing on Monday. Geographic indications have been used by the EU in negotiations with other coun- tries to limit the access of U.S. cheeses and other agri- cultural products, he said. “The EU has been very aggressive in their discus- sions and in their negotia- tions with bilateral agree- ments,” he said. The EU has attempted to create a monopoly by sug- gesting countries limit the use of cheese names such as feta or asiago to products produced in the EU to gain access to EU markets, he said. Dominik Hundhammer/Wikimedia Commons Parmesan is among the types of cheese that the EU wants to limit. Geographic indications were specifically designed to protect a particular product from a particular region pro- duced in a particular manner. The EU has taken that sig- nificantly beyond what they were designed for, he said. The senators’ letter under- scores the importance of the U.S. continuing to be aggres- sive in trade negotiations and work hard to ensure the EU is not successful, he said. The letter encourages the administration to include the issue not just in the intellec- tual property title of trade agreements but as a core trade-related principle in a number of titles including agriculture, he said. “This is a critically important issue,” Jim Mul- hern, president and CEO of National Milk Producers Federation, said. It is causing financial harm to dairy farmers, coop- eratives and processors, he said. “The harm will be com- pounded if the EU is allowed to continue to expand its prod- uct restrictions unchecked in the years to come,” he said. A 2019 study commis- sioned by the Consortium for Common Food Names found if the EU is not stopped, it would result in the potential loss of more than 220,000 jobs across the U.S. supply chain and $70 billion in dairy farm income over 10 years. “We want nothing more than the chance to compete toe-to-toe with European cheeses around the globe on a level playing field,” he said. The EU’s fear of compet- ing with U.S. cheeses and other high-quality foods is frankly unbecoming of the status of a mature and estab- lished 27-nation trading bloc, he said. The U.S. has made prog- ress on the issue but is still fighting with one hand tied behind its back, he said. “It’s time that the U.S. advances a new and improved approach to trade negotiations that prioritizes this issue and secures specific promises to protect common food names,” he said. Lock it UP KEEP YOUR NITROGEN IN THE ROOT ZONE THROUGH THE WINTER TO ALIGN WITH PEAK DEMANDS IN THE SPRING. Look for a NEW nitrification inhibitor formulation from The McGregor Company coming Fall 2020. Feeding the field and feeding your yield. S183195-1 S196783-1
