Wheat research, both basic and applied, is fundamental to our country’s ability to maintain a healthy, stable and affordable food supply for Americans.

Without research, the challenges of pests and plant diseases will go unchecked and the goal of doubling wheat production before 2030, to feed a rapidly growing population, will go unmet.

Key Facts about Wheat Research

• Wheat relies on public funding for basic research and variety development, which impacts more than 55 million acres of production in the U.S.
• According to CAST, every $1 invested in agricultural research and extension generates about $32 in return.
• 78 percent of U.S. wheat acreage is grown with varieties developed by public research programs.
• Wheat exports contributed $5.9 billion to the U.S. economy in 2010.
• According to the United Nations, 20 percent of calories consumed worldwide come from wheat.

Wheat Research Priorities and Policies

NAWG’s research funding priorities include are:

• Funding the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service at FY2010 levels of $1.2 billion to maintain critical infrastructure and programs.
• Funding USDA’s flagship competitive grants program, the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), at the fully authorized level of $700 million as soon as possible.

NAWG and the National Wheat Improvement Committee, a group of wheat researchers, outlined detailed funding priorities for USDA-Agricultural Research Service research in a series of briefing papers, including on:

• the Cereal Rust Disease Initiative, which is tackling Ug99 and other rusts threatening the wheat crop;
• reducing the threat of insect pests to wheat; and
• increasing wheat’s quality and competitiveness.

Ug99

Ug99, a stem rust so named because it was first discovered in Uganda in 1999, can cause 100 percent yield loss in infected plants. The fungus, which is primarily spread through wind, has traveled as far as Iran, putting it on the doorsteps of major wheat producing areas of Asia. An estimated 80 percent of wheat worldwide is susceptible to the disease.

NAWG, NWIC and other wheat groups have been deeply engaged in recent years in the effort to secure federal government funding for Ug99 research at home and abroad. The FY2009 omnibus spending bill included $1.5 million for Ug99 research, while the FY2010 included $1 million specifically for that purpose.

In FY2011, NAWG and other members of the wheat industry have requested $2.5 million for the Cereal Rust Disease Initiative through USDA’s Agricultural Research Service. This investment would help tackle a disease that could threaten $9 billion of U.S. wheat production – and untold billions of dollars worth of wheat grown around the world, much of it grown in politically volatile areas.

More information about this important issue is available from the USDA/ARS Ug99 Web page, the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat Project at Cornell University and the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative.

Wheat Research Community

Much of the wheat research done around the U.S. is funded by state wheat commissions, which manage check-off dollars for wheat growers in their areas. A list of these organizations is available here on the U.S. Wheat Associates website.

There are many national and international organizations involved in the wheat research community. For more on these, go to the NAWG wheat research organization Web page.