By Ruth Beck
The South Dakota Wheat Commission is currently seeking information and feedback from farmers on wheat variety preferences and current production practices. Surveys have been mailed to producers across South Dakota (SD) with the goal of collecting information that can be used to guide researchers and breeders, so their work can better meet the needs of South Dakota producers and consumers. Variety selection by farmers is an important decision.
The factors that influence that decision can vary from farmer to farmer and area to area. Many farmers have favorite or preferred wheat varieties that they use for a number of years. However as the variety becomes older it is more difficult to find a good seed source for that variety.
A new favorite variety is sought. What exactly is the combination of characteristics or traits that make a variety desirable to farmers? This spring a local farmer stopped in at our center with questions about available new spring wheat varieties. His preferred variety was no longer being sold by seed producers in SD and his seed was beginning to loose quality. Traits or characteristics bred into varieties can also become less effective with time.
One example of this is the winter wheat variety Wesley. A longtime favorite for many SD producers, the disease rust, was eventually able to overcome Wesley’s resistance to it. The acreage of Wesley winter wheat has decreased in recent years as a result of its increased susceptibility to rust.
This is the type of information that the SD Wheat Commission is seeking to determine through the 2015 survey. Other information sought revolves around production practices, acreage trends and other factors that might affect the quality of the product produced in SD or return on investment for the farmer.
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