Milling & Baking News - July 13, 2010 - 22

Milling Technology 

traits are said to be "stacked."
In its June 30 Acreage report, the
U.S.D.A. included data on the three
most widely grown bioengineered
crops in the United States: corn, soybeans and cotton.
A random survey indicated about
75.5 million acres, or 86%, of the total
87.9 million corn acres were planted to
various types of bioengineered varieties, up from 85% in 2009. The total acres
planted included 16% insect-resistant
varieties (down from 17% a year earlier), 23% herbicide-resistant varieties
(up from 22%) and 47% stacked varieties (up from 46%).
For soybeans, about 73.3 million
acres, or 93%, of the total 78.9 million
acres planted, were of bioengineered
varieties, up from 91% in 2009. All
bioengineered soybeans planted were
herbicide resistant.
And for cotton, about 10.1 million acres, also 93%, of the total 10.9
million acres, were of bioengineered
varieties, up from 88% a year earlier,

including 15% insect-resistant varieties (down from 17% in 2009), 20%
herbicide-resistant (down from 23%)
and 58% stacked (up from 48%).
"U.S. farmers have adopted genetically engineered crops widely since their
introduction in 1996, notwithstanding
uncertainty about consumer acceptance
and economic and environmental impacts," the U.S.D.A.'s Economic Research Service said. Soybeans and cotton
with bioengineered herbicide-tolerant
traits were the most rapidly and widely
adopted, the E.R.S. said, followed by
insect-resistant corn and cotton.
Planting of herbicide-tolerant soybeans rose from 17% of total plantings in 1997 to 68% in 2001 to 93% this
year, according to U.S.D.A. survey
data. Herbicide-tolerant cotton planting grew from 10% in 1997 to 56% in
2001 to 78% in 2010. The adoption of
herbicide-resistant corn was slower,
the U.S.D.A. noted, before reaching
69% of total plantings in 2010.
According to the International Service

Monsanto, Kansas State University form
partnership to share technology, germplasm
MANHATTAN, KAS. - Kansas State University
(K.S.U.) and Monsanto Co. have formed a partnership that will allow both to share germplasm
and technology, and ultimately, improve their
wheat breeding programs.
"Agreements of this type benefit the Kansas
wheat growers, because they will have a greater
selection of improved varieties from both public
and private wheat breeding programs," said Gary
Pierzynski, interim dean of the K.S.U. College of
Agriculture and interim director of K.S.U. Research
and Extension. Mr. Pierzynski said both parties
are free to form additional collaborative arrangements with other public or private entities.
"Specifically, Monsanto brings to the partnership technologies that will enable us to 'genetically fingerprint' those varieties," Mr. Pierzynski
said. "It will help us select specific genetic markers to provide improvements, such as disease
and pest resistance."
Allan Fritz, K.S.U. professor of agronomy and
a wheat breeder, said working with private industry will give K.S.U. the ability to get improved
varieties to market faster.
"For K-State's program, this will provide
breeders with accelerated wheat breeding processes, focusing our selection on plants that
matter and targeting for critical traits," he said.
Mr. Fritz said K.S.U. will continue to work with
other public wheat breeding programs, as it has
in the past.
Stakeholders in the Kansas wheat industry
participated and offered important input about
principles that should guide such collaborations.
22 / July 13, 2010 Milling & Baking News

"Kansas State University has a long history of working with wheat and in addressing
stakeholder needs," said Ernie Minton, associate director of research for K.S.U. Research and
Extension. "This relationship is beneficial for the
wheat industry as the collaboration will create
opportunities for the improvement of agronomic
performance and grain quality characteristics."
In addition, the 2009 survey results from the
National Association of Wheat Growers called
for technology investment to improve profitability of wheat as a cropping option.
K.S.U. will continue efforts to develop and release wheat varieties with improved traits through
the Kansas Wheat Alliance, Mr. Minton said. The
goal is to benefit the Kansas wheat producer and
the related wheat industry with improved traits.
"This partnership leverages Kansas State's
long-term investment in wheat breeding and
increases our resources to continue this work,"
said Kirk Schulz, president of K.S.U. "This type of
innovative collaboration is necessary with limited state and federal resources."
Sean Gardner, Monsanto's global commercial
wheat lead, added the collaboration is an important step for the wheat industry, as it brings
together the unique and complementary breeding research of Monsanto and K.S.U. to develop
better wheat varieties for growers.
"Kansas State researchers have a wealth of experience and knowledge in the field, and with our
proven breeding technology experience, we see this
collaboration as an excellent opportunity to produce
successful new wheat varieties," Mr. Gardner said. MBN

for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), farmers in 25 countries planted bioengineered crops in
2008, up from 6 in 1996. The 2008 total
included 15 developing countries and 10
developed nations. Global plantings of
bioengineered crops totaled 125 million
hectares (312.5 million acres) in 2008.
"Notably, the 74-fold hectare increase
between 1996 and 2008 makes biotech
crops the fastest adopted crop technology in agriculture," the ISAAA said.
While other bioengineered crops have
been developed and adopted by many
countries globally, wheat has been all but
left out. After Monsanto "abandoned"
its bioengineered wheat efforts in 2004,
in part because there appeared limited
pay back since a considerable amount of
wheat is "seeded from the bin," meaning growers simply plant seeds from
the previous year's crop rather than buy
commercial seeds. There also was considerable market resistance, both domestic and export, at the time, which made
growers reluctant to plant bioengineered
crops out of fear they may not be able to
sell the grain. Wheat area drifted lower
while producers were planting more
area to bioengineered varieties of corn,
soybeans, cotton and other crops, which
usually offered better returns.
"Wheat production and area is on
a long-term downtrend in the United
States," five major wheat industry
groups said in "The Case for Biotech
Wheat" released in September 2009.
"Net returns per acre to farmers favor
other crops in all areas where options
exist, and the differential is widening.
Unless the wheat industry can successfully change the equation and restore
its competitiveness, wheat is on a path
to becoming a minor crop. While there
are no 'silver bullets,' biotechnology
can make a significant contribution to
changing this competitiveness equation."
Efforts were under way in 2006 with
the publication of a paper titled "Addressing the Competitiveness Crisis
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Milling & Baking News - July 13, 2010

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