PHOENIX, Ariz. — The first viable hybrid wheat varieties should hit the market before the end of the decade, says a seed technology company.
Syngenta has been making good headway on its hybrid wheat program, drawing on its experience commercializing hybrid barley in Europe.
The company announced its intention to invest in hybrid wheat in 2010 and hopes to have a variety on the market within 10 years of that date.
“We’re still on track,” company spokesperson Ross Weikel said during an interview at the 2015 Commodity Classic.
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“The timeline is roughly 2019 to 2020, in that range.”
Syngenta has been conducting field trials in North America to confirm the vigour and production characteristics of its hybrid wheat lines. The trials have been progressing well.
“Exactly as we were expecting so far,” said Weikel.
Syngenta is ahead of the competition in developing hybrid wheat, he said.
He said companies are moving from marketing wheat varieties that allow farmers to use bin-run seed to selling hybrid wheat.
One thing the company learned from its hybrid barley program is that growers need to aggressively manage the crop.
“You won’t see the benefits of a hybrid crop if you’re not intensively managing it,” he said.
Other companies are also pursuing hybrid wheat programs.
DuPont Pioneer believes it has discovered a reliable and profitable wheat hybridization method, and Bayer CropScience is spending $1.9 billion on wheat research from 2010-20.
“The real game changer will be the arrival of hybrid wheat when it comes to yields, like it was with other crops,” said Thorsten Schwindt, Bayer’s team leader for cereals.
The company feels it could have a product ready for commercialization some time after 2020.
Researchers have been working on hybrid wheat since the 1960s.
Varieties have been created and even commercialized but with little success.
“The past decades these attempts have failed, but we have a whole new way of doing things today,” said Schwindt.
He said it is important that companies such as Bayer are turning their attention to wheat, bolstering their research and development budgets for the crop.
sean.pratt@producer.com
