U.S. crop fields hit
2022.12.21 07:47
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U.S. crop fields hit
Budrigannews.com – Syngenta, a global seed company, will launch a new variety of wheat in the United States next year, beating out rival companies that are also attempting to develop wheat with higher yields at a time when global grain supplies are decreasing.
After severe weather reduced grain harvests and the Ukraine war disrupted shipments to hungry importers, the hybrid wheat, which combines positive traits from two parent plants, arrives, driving prices to record heights this spring.
Syngenta, which started working on hybrid wheat in 2010, told Reuters that enough seeds will be available for farmers in the United States to plant between 5,000 and 7,000 acres next year.
The previously unreported total represents the largest ever release of hybrid wheat by the company, despite representing only a small portion of the nation’s plantings. As the world’s food supplies become increasingly vulnerable due to war and climate change, it may open the door to larger seedings in 2024 and beyond.
Hybrid seeds that increase yields have long benefited corn and other crop growers like barley. According to researchers, companies saw a lower potential for returns, which is why the development process for wheat has been more expensive and challenging, making it take longer to get to market.
The new crop’s benefits are still uncertain. According to Reuters, three independent seed companies that produced hybrid wheat this year in accordance with agreements with Syngenta expressed uncertainty regarding the crop’s potential to transform growers’ lives. They added that figuring out how to produce the best seeds at a reasonable cost will take longer.
According to the French division of Syngenta, Reuters, the company delayed the launch of a similar variety of wheat that was being tested in France due to the disappointing results. According to the company, the U.S. and French hybrids were developed specifically for the local growing conditions, which can include threats from plant diseases and the requirement to meet quality standards for baking and milling.
Syngenta, which is owned by China, said that its wheat from the United States, which will be sold under the AgriPro brand, could increase yields by 12 to 15 percent and make crops more stable. It also said that farmers are very interested in it.
Wheat “is the only major food crop that has not yet benefited greatly from technological advancements.” “Hybrids will alter this,” stated Jon Rich, the head of operations for cereals in North America at Syngenta Seeds.
Since the 1930s, hybrid seeds have been used by farmers to grow corn, peanuts, tomatoes, and other crops. By the middle of the 1990s, yields in the United States had increased from 20 bushels per acre in 1930 to 140 bushels. 95% of corn acres in the United States were planted with hybrid seed by 1960.
Charlie Vogel, chief executive officer of the Minnesota Association of Wheat Growers, stated, “Corn is really easy to do.” Wheat is extremely challenging, so ideal conditions are required for seeding.”
Bayer AG (ETR:) and other significant global seed companies likewise BASF SE (OTC:) are behind Syngenta in developing hybrid wheat, but they are working on it. Crop hybridization, in contrast to genetic modification, has not sparked consumer debate. Wheat that is used to make bread and pasta has long been considered taboo, despite its widespread use in soy and corn crops that are fed to livestock.
Despite this, the drought-resistant genetically modified wheat developed by the Argentine startup Bioceres has received approvals in varying degrees from Brazil, Nigeria, Australia, and New Zealand. Bioceres is betting on increasing consumer acceptance as the world struggles to feed its growing population in the face of increasingly severe weather.
Hybrid wheat seed production is still more difficult and costly than conventional wheat seed production. According to seed producers, this implies that farmers who plant the crop must experience significantly improved harvests in order to justify higher seed prices.
Researchers stated that harvests must also improve sufficiently to persuade farmers to purchase new hybrid seeds each year rather than saving wheat from previous harvests as they do with conventional seeds.
According to owner Dave Hankey, Hankey Seed Company in Park River, North Dakota, grew Syngenta’s hybrid wheat seeds on 30 acres and also produced the grain crop on 80 acres as a test for potential customers. He claimed that the grain-producing wheat he planted on his best soil produced his highest yield.
Hankey stated, “It will be significantly more expensive, and I probably don’t have really good data to show that it will be worth the additional expense.”
Hankey stated that hybrid wheat can yield higher yields on poor soil and produce results that are more uniform across fields than conventional wheat. Due to a nondisclosure agreement with Syngenta, he declined to discuss specifics.
Hankey claimed that in order to produce hybrid seeds, he planted a mixture of male and female plants in his fields and then surrounded those plants with a border of male plants to ensure that the females only had access to their pollen.
Hankey even paid a crop duster to fly over half of his 30 acres to see if the plane could move more pollen around in the air and help fertilize the soil better. He claimed that there was no difference.
Kevin Capistran, co-owner of Capistran Seed Company in Minnesota and producer of Syngenta’s hybrid wheat seeds, stated, “You just plain need the right, light wind – not too much, not too little – for that pollen to waft across right at the time when the female plant is opened up ready to receive it.”
Noeske Seed Farm, based in Valley City, North Dakota, claimed to have grown 80 acres of Syngenta’s hybrid wheat for grain production. A representative stated that despite the crop’s late planting due to excessive rains, yields were unremarkable.
Syngenta Seeds said that the U.S. farmers who grow hybrid wheat next year will connect directly with the company to provide crop data, which the company will use to improve future hybrids before they are fully commercialized in 2024. According to the company, farmers will receive a discount on seeds to encourage feedback.
Rich of Syngenta stated, “We understand the uncertainty that some farmers may have, particularly when the industry attempted to make hybrid wheat viable in previous decades.”
Syngenta extended in 2015 that its yearly deals of crossover wheat seeds might actually reach $3 billion by 2032. It refused to provide a more recent forecast.
After its first hybrids in France failed to meet yield targets in trials during a hot, dry year, the French unit of Syngenta said it hopes to market a variety of hybrid wheat in 2025. Although the initial hybrids “matched the best results on the market,” the company stated, “we need to go beyond that.”
By the end of the 2022/23 marketing year, the world’s wheat stockpile is expected to be at its lowest level in eight years, at a mere 98-day inventory, according to data from the U.S. government.
According to Peter Eckes, president of research and development for BASF Agricultural Solutions, Germany’s BASF intends to introduce hybrid wheat seeds known as Ideltis in Europe, the United States, and Canada in the second half of the decade.
Bayer (NASDAQ:), In contrast, the company claimed that its hybrid wheat would also be available “by the later part of this decade” and that trials had demonstrated yield increases of 15% or more. Frank Terhorst, the head of strategy and sustainability at Bayer Crop Science, stated that the crisis in Ukraine has intensified supply concerns, which is why the company has increased development work over the past three years.
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Claude Tabel, a former president of the French seed makers’ association UFS, stated, “Hybrid wheat has been a dream of seed developers since the 1950s.” It is being worked on by all.”
