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Wheat groups lobby Congress for funds to combat Ug99 rust
<b>By ANN HINCH<br>Assistant Editor</b></p><p>

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Asian Soybean Rust may be getting all the attention in American soybean circles, but wheat has been dealing with a comparable nemesis for several years – at least overseas.
For now, that is.<br>
“This is not a normal disease,” said Dr. Barry Morton of Ug99, a new race of Wheat Stem Rust (WSR) fungus found in Kenya in 1999. “This could produce famine, could reduce wheat in the Middle East, in Asia.”<br>
Morton, director of science and technology for the National Assoc. of Wheat Growers (NAWG), used this to begin a discussion of prioritizing research against Ug99 within the organization’s Research and Technology Committee, meeting at the annual Commodity Classic in Nashville last Thursday to outline goals for NAWG to consider.<br>
It was actually 1998 when Ug99 was found in Kenya and Uganda. In 2003, it spread to Ethiopia and in 2006, it showed up in Sudan and Yemen. Two weeks ago, it was confirmed in Iran, a significantly long jump for the fungus over Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf – but not necessarily surprising, explained Dr. James Peterson, the Warren E. Kronstad Wheat Research Chair at Oregon State University and chairman of the National Wheat Improvement Committee.<br>
When Ug99 hit Yemen, it particularly worried crop experts worldwide, he said, because the wind patterns through that area are regarded as a “gateway” into higher-producing nations such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and India – wind that could carry spores into those wheat fields.<br>
Of the jump into Iran within two years, Peterson said, “It shows how those airflows can have an impact very quickly.”
Aside from the local disasters that could arise from a fungus capable of destroying 100 percent of an area’s wheat crop (as opposed to narrower-focus fungi such as Leaf Rust or Stripe Rust), Peterson pointed out the region of northern and eastern Africa, over into western Asia, grows about one-fifth of the world’s wheat.
With global wheat stocks at their lowest in about 30 years and U.S. stocks down as much as they’ve been in six decades, he said it’s even more important to find resistance to Ug99, and quickly – especially with the fungus poised to move into Pakistan and India anytime.<br>
“It’s not just about production and economics; it’s now an issue of world food security,” he said.<br>
From 1917-22, the United States saw losses of 143 million bushels of wheat to WSR, he said. The fungus resurged every so often over the next 40 years, its impact lessening each time but still hitting the northern Plains states hard. In 1962, the nationwide loss was down to around five percent of the U.S. wheat crop.<br>
Thanks to development of resistant varieties and a burberry eradication program – an alternate host for the fungus – Peterson said WSR has become much less of a problem since. But even engineered resistance sometimes has an expiration date, and in this case, he said two-thirds to three-quarters of varieties grown around the Yemen gateway – as in the U.S. – would be “highly susceptible” to Ug99.<br>
Add to that low stocks and increasing worldwide demand for wheat, and, “If there’s any more vulnerable time in history, I don’t know when that would be,” Peterson said.<br>
He added the fungus could arrive in the U.S. at some point, whether by wind patterns or some other agent – such as spores on some tourist’s clothing.<br>
Based on this and Morton’s warnings, NAWG’s Research and Technology Committee created a new resolution that recognizes the threat of Ug99 and strongly advocates additional funding for research and the development of resistant varieties.
Apart from the challenges of research itself, adequate funding is a problem. Morton and Peterson said wheat groups such as NAWG have been lobbying Congress for two years for research funding dedicated to fighting off Ug99.<br>
Morton said NAWG’s request of $5 million was decreased to less than $2 million recently, but lost altogether in conference committee.<br>
Research needs to progress immediately, Morton said, since even if effective Ug99-resistant varieties were discovered tomorrow, it usually takes about 10 years from development to having enough of the seed planted to crop for the resistance to be widespread. <br>Some genes do show resistance, Peterson said, but cause problems for the end result, such as oddly-colored flour and baking problems – and even if resistant varieties are found, they may not last long, since Ug99 seems to be a rapidly mutating fungus.
“We’re running out of resistant genes to this rust,” he added. “We need to turn over all our wheat varieties in the United States in the next four to five years, to stay ahead of this thing.”<br>
A few years ago, Dr. Norman Borlaug, a Nobel Prize winner commonly known as “the father of the Green Revolution” for introducing wheat into areas that would previously not grow it, put out a worldwide call for action under the Global Rust Initiative, and a summit took place.<br>
Yet, Peterson said Congress is still looking to cut funding. He and members of NAWG are lobbying on Capitol Hill this week to change minds.<br>
“Our goal (this) week is to scare the hell out of some people,” he said. “I’m hoping someone in D.C. will wake up and realize our work with international centers is important to our own food security.”

3/5/2008