In North America, Syngenta increases its focus on the development of hybrid wheat varieties. As such, the company announced that Northern Seed, LLC will acquire its triticale program, including the Vernon, Texas, site. Triticale is a grain produced by cross-breeding wheat and rye, and is grown primarily as feed for livestock.
“This transaction will concentrate resources on our work to commercialize hybrid wheat,” says Darcy Pawlik, cereal product lead for Syngenta in North America. “We are focusing our efforts in the primary wheat growing areas in North America, which will lead to enabling further expansion.
“Syngenta has built a leadership position in North America wheat seeds as part of a strategy to maximize grower return. Now, the company will continue focused variety development with an orderly transition into hybrids. Building on the success of Hyvido barley in Europe, Syngenta recently achieved technical proof of concept in hybrid wheat and expects to commercialize by the end of the decade, with peak sales potential of more than $3 billion.”
The company believes this increased focus will ensure transformational yield benefits to growers under the AgriPro cereals seed brand.
“So far, our investments have enabled us to surpass a targeted 10-percent yield increase for our first generation of hybrid wheat lines,” Pawlik says. “Although we still have a great deal to learn about how to optimize growth, agronomic characteristics and grain yield, we are confident hybrid wheat will provide a new level of yield potential and profitability for growers and our channel.”
