By DOUG SCHMITZ
Iowa Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. wheat industry officials addressed Capitol Hill on Feb. 13 to request federal funds from pending appropriations bills, to help research such priorities as tracking the killer wheat fungus, Ug99, and other threats they claimed would make it more dangerous for the United States and world crops.

“Our focus was on the fiscal year (20)10 budget, as we understand the fiscal year ’09 appropriation omnibus is essentially done,” said Jim Peterson, chair of the National Wheat Improvement Committee (NWIC) and professor of wheat breeding and genetics at Oregon State University.

“In the stimulus package, there were funds for USDA-ARS building renovation and repair, but no funds for new buildings and Agricultural Research Service (ARS) research, per se.”

Peterson and NAWG CEO Daren Coppock were among the representatives of the National Assoc. of Wheat Growers (NAWG), the NWIC, the North American Millers Assoc. (NAMA), the American Bakers Assoc. (ABA) and the USDA-ARS on the Hill to discuss concerns over federal funding of wheat research, which was followed by a media teleconference with reporters in the afternoon.

In their proposal to Congress, Peterson and Coppock are requesting $5 million for the Cereal Rust Disease Initiative; $1.2 million for USDA-ARS Regional Small Grains Molecular Genotyping Labs; $3.25 million for enhancing wheat quality, competitiveness, security and sustainability; $1.2 million for the enhancing wheat insect pest research, plus a one-time allocation of $600,000 for building restoration; and $750,000 for small grains germplasm enhancement in Aberdeen, Idaho.

“The USDA-ARS has been crippled by a long-term decline in budgets for salaries and expenses due to mandatory, but unfunded, salary increases and lack of inflation offsets,” Coppock said in their research priorities request for funds.

“Research capacity, staffing and facilities all have suffered, undermining the ability of the ARS to meet its mission,” the researchers added. “We implore Congress to provide adequate funding to the ARS to meet pay costs and address critical national agricultural research needs.

“Fiscal year ’09 funding of $190 million for the Agricultural and Food Research Initiative program (AFRI) is clearly inadequate. We encourage Congress to double the budget for the AFRI program for fiscal year ’10 to $380 million.”

Coppock said wheat is fundamental to the U.S. economy and food security with a farm-gate value of more than $14 billion.

“Wheat products are the foundation of the U.S. milling and baking industry, supporting millions of jobs and generating additional billions in end-product value and business activity,” he said. “Wheat exports are valued at approximately $3.75 billion per year and are an important offset to the U.S. trade deficit.”

From 2007-08, U.S. wheat stocks fell to a historic 60-year low, a consequence of declining acreage and unusual weather-related crop stress. Although U.S. and world production rebounded in 2008, U.S. acreage and production is also forecast to decline again in 2009, with fundamental weaknesses underlying the long-term decline in wheat production yet to be addressed.

Peterson and Coppock said wheat production, food security and low food prices could no longer be taken for granted. “The USDA-Economic Research Service has concluded that wheat ‘has lost its competitive edge relative to other crops,’” they said. “Wheat acreage is nearly one-third less than in 1980, as production has shifted to maize and soybeans. Increased demand for biofuels accounts for only some of this shift.

“Increases in wheat productivity and economic returns per acre have not kept pace with other major crops. As compared with corn or soybean, wheat production is more vulnerable to evolving disease and insect pressures.”

Wheat producers worldwide are facing new threats from increasingly virulent diseases and insects, among which is Ug99, Peterson and Coppock said. First discovered in eastern Africa in 1999 and identified in Iran in 2008, Ug99 is a race of stem rust that blocks the vascular tissues in cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley.

While leaf or stripe rusts may reduce crop yields, Ug99 can cause up to 100 percent loss. Asked if Ug99 could be bioterrorism-related, Coppock said there was no evidence that someone had engineered the pathogen.

“Our primary concern here is the ease with which the pathogen can be transported in air currents or on people’s clothing,” he said. “We are transporting lots of personnel and material in and out of neighboring Iraq, and we must ensure that we don’t end up bringing it here ourselves as well as monitor other potential vectors – either innocent or malevolent.”

In the long run, Peterson and Coppock said U.S. wheat yields must increase by 20 percent in the next 10 years if the U.S. is to stabilize production and meet growing demand for wheat products.
“We must address critical vulnerabilities to emerging and increasingly virulent strains of diseases and insects,” the two researchers said in their proposal. “This goal is attainable, but it will require a renewed investment of public and private funds to develop, apply and deploy new technologies.”

While Coppock recognized federal resources are limited, he told Congress that federal investments in wheat research are fundamental to economic viability and stability of the U.S. food industry.

“An infusion of new funds is critical to meet long-term threats to production and sustain U.S. producers and the agriculture-based economy in today’s competitive world market,” he said.