Agricultural News
Wheat Commission Urges OSU to Protect Interests of Wheat Growers in Wheat Genetics Deals
Fri, 22 Jan 2010 3:55:06 CSTThe Oklahoma Wheat Commission hosted other state wheat and agricultural organizations for their monthly board meeting Jan. 20, 2010. The event, held at 3800 N. Classen Blvd., was attended by Oklahoma State University, the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association, Plains Grains, Inc., National Agricultural Statistics Services, Oklahoma Genetics, Inc, American Farmers and Ranchers, Oklahoma Crop Improvement Association, and USDA-ARS.
The agenda held two items pertaining to future public and private wheat research collaborations. Discussions in recent meetings were about building partnerships between land grant universities and private wheat breeding companies, resulted in the creation of two resolutions, which were also passed later that afternoon by the OWGA board of directors.
The first resolution agreed upon read:
"The Oklahoma Wheat Commission strongly urges Oklahoma State University to recognize the investment by Oklahoma Wheat producers in variety development with the Oklahoma State University wheat breeding program."
Chairman Don Schieber, Ponca City, said the Wheat Commission wants to protect the interests of Oklahoma's wheat producers. "The Oklahoma Wheat Commission invests lots of producer dollars to research through OSU and we are extremely interested in the path it takes during the many steps of research," he said. "We trust the University and want to ensure that our wheat producers prosper from the outcome."
The second resolution read:
"Given the positive role wheat producers can play in fostering collaborations, the Oklahoma Wheat Commission urges Oklahoma State University to include Oklahoma wheat producers in discussions regarding potential partnerships with private parties."
Jimmie Musick, Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association president and Sentinel wheat producer believes in creating partnerships to better enhance the discovery and use of technology. "These partnerships are important in order to increase yield, quality and marketability of our product," he said. "I see this as the potential to create a working relationship through a cooperative partnership that desires our input to give wheat a competitive edge with other crops from a technology standpoint."
The Oklahoma Wheat Commission board also passed the following motion:
"The Oklahoma Wheat Commission supports the "Principles for Collaborations in Wheat Breeding and Biotechnology" adopted by the Public Breeders of the Hard Winter Wheat Improvement Committee, and strongly urges Oklahoma State University to use the Principles to guide their collaborations and agreements with private industry. The Oklahoma Wheat Commission urges the National Wheat Improvement Committee and the National Association of Wheat Growers and U.S. Wheat Associates to adopt these Principles and promote research collaborations that benefit the entire U.S. wheat industry."
Executive Director Mike Schulte sees the importance for Oklahoma and U.S. wheat producers to have better technologies made available to compete in the global marketplace. "The opportunity for greater quality wheat will be made possible with new research and technologies that could be made available from private industry," said Schulte. "The Oklahoma Wheat Commission and the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association wants to make sure potential future partnerships will benefit all producers."
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