Release of new wheats

Press, 11 May 1979, Page 10

Release of new wheats

The Wheat Research Committee has approved arrangements made for the release of the new wheats, Rongotea and Oroua, bred by the Crop Research Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.

At its meeting this week the director of the Crop Research Division, Dr H. C. Smith, reported that arrangements for the commercial release of the two varieties had been completed.

When the committee last met late last year it recommended to the DirectorGeneral of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr E. I. Robertson, that the varieties should be released and he has now given his approval to this course. At the time of the last meeting it seemed that there was a possibility that the release of the two varieties could be held up pending the granting of plant selectors’ rights for them, because an application for rights will not be accepted if new varieties have been traded, but according to a report given to this week’s meeting an amendment to the Plant Varieties Act is likely to be presented early in the next sitting of Parliament, which if passed will allow a variety to be traded for a year and still provide for an application to be made for plant selectors’ rights. On the expectation that this amendment will be passed it has been decided that the two varieties can be released at certified second generation level without jeopardising the applications for rights.

However, it is still an urgent matter for the Ministry of Agriculture to schedule wheat under the regulations, so that applications for rights can be lodged and accepted as soon as possible. Mr J. P. Malcolm, of the seed section of the Crop Research Division, said this week that growers could apply to their grain merchants for seed of the new varieties. All of those merchants who had applied for seed had received some, he said, although not all that they had asked for. He said that tight control would be maintained

over the seed and contracts for growing it to ensure that the two varieties would eventually be eligible for plant selectors’ rights when wheat was scheduled under the regulations.

On the basis of figures given to the committee this week there could be seed available for sowing more than 3000 ha in the two varieties this year and it has been stated that after next harvest there could be enough seed to satisfy all requirements. As it initially recommended the release of Karamu wheat, which has since had a checkered career in commercial growing because of the variability of its baking quality, the committee decided by a narrow majority, with four voting against the action, that because of its unsatisfactory performance over the past few years it was of the opinion that the variety does not have a place in the bread baking system, and that the Wheat Board should be advised of this. One of those who voted against the action taken was Mr A. L. Mulholland, who is chairman of the Dominion agriculture section of Federated Farmers. He said afterwards that he was most concerned at what had happened and asked that his vote against it be recorded. The Wheat Research Committee had the right to

recommend the release of new varieties, but he did not think that it had any jurisdiction over varieties that were already in general use. The WTieat Board, however, had the right and prerogative to dictate what should and what should not be designated a variety for bread making or any other purpose.

It had already demonstrated that it was the organisation that should rule on the fate of any variety by putting a discount on Karamu to control the acreage.

The move was also a dangerous one in his view in that at present Karamu was still the only spring wheat they had, as it had to be remembered that Rongotea and Oroua were still in the pipeline and would only be grown for seed this year so that a large number of farmers would not be able to grow them. Furthermore these varieties still had to prove themselves.

If Karamu was designated for uses other than bread making, then he would suggest that very little wheat would be grown in the North Island, as it was the only wheat that was at present satisfactory for northern growers.

Having adopted the recommendations of a subcommittee which has been studying the functions of the committee, an execu-

tive committee was set up, which will work with and advise the director of the Wheat Research Institute on financial matters and aspects of the research and technical programmes of the institute, and also liaise with the director of the Crop Research Division.

This committee will comprise the chairman of the committee, Professor R. H. M. Langer, and also Messrs J. H. Mitchell, J. K. Ireland, J. T. Gould and P. Chapman.

Concern is felt about the quality of wheats introduced into New Zealand which do not come from Department of Scientific and Industrial Research sources, and while the committee adopted recommendations from its sub-committee, already referred to, on this matter also it was still not satisfied that this matter had been satisfactorily resolved and set up a further sub-committee to report on this. The recommendations adopted by the committee were that it should define the quality criteria which should be met by a new variety before it was released, and that it should seek to ensure that every new variety should be shown to meet these criteria to its satisfaction before its release was recommended by the acceptable crop cultivar committee.