Checkoff-funded research blazes trail for Chilean commercial seed growing operations

Farmers love nothing better than to stand in a soybean field between rows of a good-looking crop, and talk. By those criteria alone, Thursday was a perfect day for members of the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council’s “See for Yourself” mission delegation as we visited the winter nurseries of two private-sector seed companies.

Earlier in the week North Dakota Soybean Council member Monty Peterson of Valley City, North Dakota, visited the Syngenta (Green Seed) facilities where the North Dakota Soybean Council supports variety development research.

On Thursday the delegation visited the Semillas Pioneer Chile research station, as well as the Monsanto research station. Our delegates were hosted to presentations about the companies’ seed development programs then toured the sites to get a first-hand look at the operations.

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  See for Yourself delegates inspected some of the 800+ crossings at the Pioneer breeding facility

  Pioneer has a well-established breeding and commercial seed operation in Chile. On the ground here since the early 1970s, Pioneer operates three separate stations, cultivating approximately 300 hectares and producing corn, soybean, canola and sunflower seed for various markets worldwide. In 2009, Pioneer’s Chilean operations produced 1.5 million units of corn seed alone.

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  Monsanto breeders answered questions about their new soybean program in Chile

  Monsanto is a more recent arrival in Chile, beginning in 2003 with $144 million in seed produced through its nurseries and “counter-season” commercial seed growing program in Chile, and boosting that number to $330 million by 2008, with 60% of those seed sales coming from corn.

Chilean “counter-season” seed growing operations are a critical for delivering new genetic technologies to Minnesota and other US growers more quickly. Seed grown in the southern hemisphere during our winter time can be harvested and processed for planting in the US that same year. Companies may operate several counter-season operations (e.g., Monsanto has farms in Hawaii and Puerto Rico), in effect gaining 2-3 growing seasons in one year to further accelerate the breeding and trait development process.

Commercial seed producers in Chile plant in late November or early December and harvest in late March or early April. Each year, the pressure is on to grow, process and deliver the new season’s seeds in time for planting in U.S. markets. Shipping time from Chile to destinations in Minnesota can run 12-16 days, so time is extremely tight for the Chilean seed producers.

A cooperative system is in place to help the nearly 20 seed companies in Chile coordinate land use and manage the isolations required for the various crops. The Chilean seed producers work closely with Chilean officials at SAG (agriculture ministry) and U.S. officials at APHIS to insure that all seed produced in Chile is grown and exported in compliance with both Chilean and U.S. regulations.

Check-off funded research is the foundation

The varieties produced in the counter-season programs in Chile benefit growers once new genetics are moved out of the lab and into the seed purchased by growers. The vital work done by Dr. Orf and his colleagues at public research institutions provide the critical pathway necessary for new genetic traits to become incorporated in the germ plasm that serves as the foundation for commercialized soybean varieties.

Steve Commerford, a consulting agronomist with the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council talked about the broad influence of the genetic and agronomic research funded by Minnesota soybean checkoff dollars.

“Many people may not realize that the breeding, trait screening and agronomic testing being done by Dr. Orf and other university researchers represents the primary gateway for new genetic traits to reach the marketplace,” said Commerford.

Commerford explained that for new genetic technologies to reach soybean growers , checkoff-funded university researchers must first breed and develop the germ plasm (parent material), and then later screen commercial lines to make sure the desired traits (e.g., insect resistance, drought tolerance, IDC tolerance, white mold tolerance, etc.) are expressed and functioning in the varieties made available to growers.

“What we are seeing here in Chile, whether at the University of Minnesota’s winter nursery or at the private companies, is the end result of the foundational research funded by soybean checkoff dollars,” said Commerford.

University researchers blazed the trail in Chile

The winter nurseries are critical to moving new genetics into commercial production quickly. Minnesota researchers have been operating counter-season research and breeding programs in Chile continuously since the late 1950s. Commercial companies followed later once it became apparent that the counter-season nurseries were viable for accelerating the development of new genetics.

Bryce Nelson, a veteran crop consultant in southern Minnesota and former president of the Minnesota Independent Crop Consulting Association, said he was impressed with the foresight of University of Minnesota researchers Dr. Gene Lambert and Dr. Jim Orf.

“These researchers established the winter nursery in Chile and continued to develop the breeding programs here when no one else was doing anything like it,” said Nelson, “and it’s important that we continue to support the efforts of researchers like Dr. Orf and Dr. Naeve and others as they anticipate and explore new avenues of soybean technology.”

MSRPC research chairman Gene Stoel observed that University researchers have paved the way in Chile, not only by developing and multiplying the genetics so important to the success of our soybean growers, but also by developing the best practices and human resources that are making significant contributions to the industry.

“It was interesting to see as we toured the Pioneer facility and the Monsanto facility that the basic protocols they use to carefully manage the breeding programs are essentially the same protocols pioneered and taught by Dr. Orf and his colleagues at other public research institutions,” said Stoel, “In fact, many of the leading plant breeders working for private industry here and elsewhere are products of the university research programs funded by soybean growers.”