Agricultural News
Carver Says Wheat Improvement Industry Very Attractive, But Raising a Few Eyebrows
Thu, 03 May 2012 17:04:03 CDT
Dr. Brett Carver with the wheat breeding program at OSU gave a presentation at the recent Grain and Feed Association meeting in Oklahoma City. He says there are a number of developments in the field that are very exciting and a few which are a little troublesome.
He spoke with Ron Hays about what he sees on the horizon in the rapidly developing wheat improvement industry.
"There is tremendous investment in wheat improvement in the public and in the private sector, especially, that is making this a very attractive industry in the United States compared to other places in the world. I'm excited about what's going on, but I'm also keeping my eyes wide open."
He says that agribusiness giants have gotten in, gotten out and gotten back into working with wheat. One of the quieter companies, Bayer, has recently made a big run at getting into the industry in a big way. Carver says the company "is a very impressive force in the landscape for wheat improvement." He says the company has varieties that will be cropping up in numerous trials next year.
One of the things that Bayer has done which has him a little concerned is the companies purchase of wheat breeding programs in the Ukraine.
"In terms of numbers, it's probably not that significant, but where the acquisition took place does raise my eyebrows a little bit. Because eastern Europe is an area that we depend on heavily-and not just us, but other breeding programs across the great plains-depend on heavily to bring in new germ plasm whether it's for disease resistance or other agronomic traits. In fact, Oklahoma State University just signed an MTA, a Material Transfer Agreement, with two organizations-one in Humgary and one in Romania to ensure the future access of germ plasm in those parts of the world.
"And, fortunately, those organizations have not signed on to an agreement with a private company which might limit their ability to operate and cooperate with us. But as we see more and more of those kinds of acquisitions, I do get a little bit nervous. Germ plasm access is so important to what we do. I think we have the talent to use it, but if we can't get to it and use it, or access it, then we're going our hands will be tied behind our backs."
Another issue of concern to Carver is the tremendous amount of misinformation and disinformation that is being peddled about the alleged inability of human beings to adequately digest wheat and grain products containing gluten. It's a concept that has been popularized and spread by William Davis in his book "Wheat Belly." Carver said that some of the practices that Williams-and others-disagrees with are not really used in the typical public wheat breeding program.
One of the charges Williams makes is that proteins have been modified by modern wheat breeders and that these have somehow been rendered indigestible by the human digestive system. Carver says Williams assertions deserve study, but as of now, there's no solid scientific basis for his claims.
"Yes, we have modified that protein to make it more conducive, to say, a commercial high-speed baking operation. But just because you make those changes, does not necessarily mean you've made changes in the way your body can digest it. There have been a limited number of studies that have looked at the types of proteins that have changed over time, and whether our bodies can digest those proteins any differently. From what I've seen, there's really no convincing evidence that those proteins have changed in that way. Yes, we have made dough stronger. Yes, we have made the dough more extensible, but have we made it less digestible? Not necessarily. We do need to research to confirm that."
Carver also says he's excited about the possibilities presented by the next generation of Duster that is being worked on at OSU and that last year's drought supplied an opportunity to select for drought resistance and use that in their program.
He also said that the Gallagher and Iba varieties are performing very well.
You can hear Ron Hays' full interview with Brett Carver by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
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