Newsroom

CORVALLIS - The wheat breeding program at Oregon State University has developed a promising new winter wheat variety and is exploring ways to realize its potential economic value.

The new variety, OR9801757, is a soft white winter wheat with exceptionally soft kernel texture, high break flour yields, large diameter cookies and high sponge cake volume. The superior quality of this variety may be of economic value to millers and bakers if its identity can be preserved throughout the process of production and marketing.

"However, without commitment of private industry to develop markets and produce, segregate and deliver identity-preserved grain, it is our belief that potential economic value of this variety will not be fully realized," said Jim Peterson, head of OSU's wheat breeding program.

In September, the OSU Cereal Variety Advisory Committee agreed that there is merit in considering some type of semi-exclusive release for OR9801757. And they recognized that there will be concerns about such a release and identity-preserved marketing of a public variety.

"A semi-exclusive license equates to a 'product launch,'" Peterson explained. "Growers must be aware that this release process is an experiment; there are no guarantees that it will be successful. Those who choose to bid on a semi-exclusive release will be taking on significant expenditures and risks to develop a market."

To give growers an opportunity to comment and discuss the merits of such licensing, the OSU wheat breeding program has planned an open session at the Wheat Industry Conference in Tigard, Ore., on Monday, Dec. 6, from 1:45 p.m. to 3 p.m.

A draft of the proposed semi-exclusive release license is posted on the OSU Crop and Soil Science web site at http://cropandsoil.oregonstate.edu/. A public comment period is open through Dec. 17. Letters can be sent to Barb Reed, 107 Crop Science Building, OSU, Corvallis, Ore., 97330, or email to Barbara.J.Reed@oregonstate.edu.