FARMERS may be having a tough time in the west this season due to lingering dry conditions.
But last week's announcement of a ground-breaking new plant breeding technology partnership between Monsanto and InterGrain has provided a fresh injection of hope for graingrowers contemplating their viability when similar tough conditions hit again in the years ahead.
Last Thursday, InterGrain chairman Dale Baker announced that his company had entered into a highly promising technology collaboration agreement with Monsanto.
Monsanto will share germplasm with InterGrain, one of Australia's leading wheat and barley breeding companies based at the Agriculture and Food Department in South Perth.
The collaboration is expected to lead to significant advances in wheat technology for Australian growers, improve productivity and slash the time taken to bring new varieties through the plant breeding system.
In the deal, Monsanto has acquired a 19.9 per cent
minority interest in InterGrain with the State Government remaining as InterGrain's majority shareholder (57pc) along with the Grains Research and Development Corporation (23pc).
Monsanto and InterGrain will exchange wheat germplasm for breeding, with InterGrain gaining access to breeding technology tools and services for genotyping and marker development.
Mr Baker said it was an exciting development for Australian wheat farmers for Australia's leading wheat breeder and germplasm developer to partner with the world's number one technology provider.
He said InterGrain had been actively seeking an international partner to grow its wheat breeding program for the past 12 months and was pleased to reach agreement with Monsanto, "the world's leader in this regard".
"It will open the doors to a vast new library of germplasm and powerful technology capacity which Australian wheat growers have not previously had access to which we expect will translate to more rapid improvements in wheat yields and performance," he said.
InterGrain was established in 2007 by the State Government and the GRDC setting up a commercial plant breeding platform.
GRDC chairman Keith Perrett said it was certainly groundbreaking to bring one of the world's major biotech companies into Australia and have them make a significant commitment to the Australian grains industry.
"It's welcome from a grower's perspective and what it means for GRDC is that we are going to see greater genetic gains and access to the best technologies," he said.
"That is certainly going to put pressure on the other companies to perform as well, which is good for me as a grower."
Mr Perrett said the partnership would deliver significant increases in wheat performance for Australian growers and would target improvements in areas such as yield performance, disease resistance, drought tolerance and improved end use qualities.
"It is a positive step forward for the Australian grains industry as it links Australian breeding with the global research and development effort," he said.
InterGrain CEO Bryan Whan said internationally, US wheat farmers had been pulling out of wheat production for some time, having seen the differences in productivity for GM corn and soybeans.
"To sum it up, we are trying to capture what is happening with corn and soybeans internationally and translate that into wheat," he said.
"We believe this deal is going to lead to significant increases in productivity.
"Our estimate of the current rate of genetic gain in wheat in Australia is 1pc or a little bit less.
"Our aim in the short term using the non-GM technology is that the rate of genetic gain could be 2pc per annum.
"In the longer term once we start using the biotech traits that rate of gain could be up to 3pc and that will have a significant impact on productivity for the Australian grains industry."
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