b'increases in prosperity andnew. Our program was startedties. Now we can develop aDID YOU KNOW THIS ABOUT two thirds due to increases inin 2010. In the last 18 months,new variety with the attributesHYBRID WHEAT? population. Wheat provideswe have been extremelythat we want. Were able to roughly 20% of the caloriesfocused on developing hybrididentify those through mark-in the world and 20% of thewheat. We are making greaters. That allows us to start out1 Hybrid wheat occurs protein in the world.If weheadway toward a possiblewith that product as opposedwhen two different expect population growthsmall release of hybrid Springto relying on a process ofwheat varieties are to continue to increase aswheat in spring 2022, Moranoelimination. That has beencross-pollinated to form we think it will, and if globalsays. In spring 2023, he antici- very helpful. a hybrid, and its been prosperity is going to increasepates Syngenta could haveAs we select for propera goal of companies for as we expect, then by 2050,larger quantities available forfemales and males to makeyears.the world will have 10 billionseed growers in the Northerna new hybrid, we know that people who will be eating likePlains spring wheat region.there are specific attributes2 Globally, hybrid 12 billion. Increasing prosper- Winter wheat will follow inthat a female needs to have,wheat has been in ity increases per capita food2024 or 2025.as well as what the maledevelopment for consumption. According to Morano,needs for the right pollina- 30 years, but hasnt We deem that were goingSyngentas concentration istion to take place. Arrangingsuccessfully made it to to have to raise our geneticnow on the production offor pollination in corn is onlythe marketplace yet.gain by roughly, depend- hybrid wheat seed, which hassomewhat similar to wheat. ing on where you are in thealways been the Achilles heelWe have to have the right world, from zero to roughlyof hybrid wheat. In recentmale and female to have3 According to the FAO, 1.4 to 1.7. The only way I couldyears, Syngenta has madeboth good productivity andwith the development see doing that is with hybridsgood progress on lower- producibility. We now haveof chemical hybridizing including hybrid wheat, heing the cost of production,the technology to enable us toagent technologies, concludes. making it feasible for farmersidentify the desired attributessuch as GENESIS and to realize a good ROI on thewithin a vast gene pool. Wethe Sogital compound Syngentas Developments premium cost of hybrid seed. also have marker labels forSC2053, theres been Globally, hybrid wheat hasa massive number of poten- a decline in research been in development forBreeding Breakthroughs tial parent lines that give usactivity on cytoplasmic about 30 years. For variousThere have been two impor- the ability to determine thatmale sterility (CMS).reasons, it never could get totant breakthroughs that havethis parent and that parent market. Paul Morano, head ofenabled Syngentas hybridwill probably make a good North American cereals forwheat program to movehybrid. With that, we are able4 The FAO also reports Syngenta, has spent the lastforward. One is technology;to start with something thatthat the last CMS hybrid 10 years working with breed- the second is hybridizationwe didnt have to spend yearsto be submitted for ers to bring hybrid wheat tomethods. developing. We didnt havetesting in uniform trials market. He says SyngentasWe hear a lot about tech- that resource just a few yearscoordinated by the AgroPro brand wheat breed- nology in agriculture, but theago. Having that capability isUSDA was in 1995.ers have a renewed focusedanswer to developing hybridmaking a huge difference.on developing and deliver- wheat is truly technology,The second breakthrough ing hybrid wheat. SyngentaMorano says. We can identifyinvolves hybridization meth- 5 One of the downfalls had been working to developDNA for our wheat brands.ods. Since wheat is a self-pol- of hybrid wheat, hybrid wheat before pausingWe have marker laboratorieslinating crop, breeders needaccording to the U.S. to evaluate progress.that can do quick DNA anda sterilization process for theWheat Associates, is Weve had to readjust agenomic samples. And wevefemales. Then they have to bedue to the complex couple of times to evaluateidentified what progress weable to bring those femalesthree wheat genomes where we are and recalculatewere making year after year inback into a non-sterile state to it makes the process the numbers as you do when- the field year after year withget them to produce seed forof hybridization ever youre doing somethingthe genomics of specific varie- the farmer. There are differentdownright difficult.JANUARY 2021SEEDWORLD.COM /61'