06/27/07 Wheat breeder cutting back on hard white wheat

Washington Ag June 27, 2007 Washington State University spring wheat breeder Kim Kidwell measures success by whether farmers are or aren't growing the varieties she develops. What farmers are not growing, despite industry efforts, from the state to the national level, is hard white wheat. Kidwell: "I have hundreds of thousands of dollars into my hard white program right now. And it is frustrating as a breeder to develop pretty good agronomic potential that never go anywhere and I think it is frustrating for farmers to see'em." So Kidwell told growers at a recent field day that she is scaling back on hard white spring wheat. Kidwell: "That program, at least in my hand will be at least half the size next year as it is this year. We are just really going to go small and not extinguish the program at this point but either strategically align to eliminate it or ramp it back up if we need to. I don't want to stop but I don't want to keep doing this if there is not end in sight. No viable market or viable goal to shoot for." Recently Oregon State University Wheat breeder Jim Peterson and his technician Greg Vollmer put out a white paper recommending a licensing agreement for hard white wheat varieties developed at Pacific Northwest land grant universities. The licensee would be responsible for developing markets and coordinating production of hard white wheat. I'm Bob Hoff.