Wheat research

Press, 5 August 1988, Page 14

Wheat research

Almost all the bread baked in New Zealand is grown from wheats bred by D.S.I.R.’s Crop Research Division. Modern wheat cultivars such as C.R.D. Otane, C.R.D. Oraua and C.R.D. Kotare produce high quality grain with yields vastly ahead of those achieved when breeding programmes first began in the 19305. Overseas cultivars are used to produce lower quality flour, but they do not result in the high quality bread making flavour demanded today, according to the division’s commercial manager, Gillian Wratt. Ms Wratt believes the New Zealand industry has all the physical conditions needed for a successful future. The soils and the sunshine are matched by proven farming skills, “but in contrast to the

past, that is not enough,” she says. There have been major changes in the local industry in the last few years. From operating in a protected and regulated market, it is now fully exposed to the vagaries of the international commodity trade in a period of over-supply and low prices. With the New Zealand producer now keenly aware of market sources and world grain prices improving, Ms Wratt says the future of New Zealand arable farming is starting to look brighter. D.S.I.R.’s wheat research programmes are centred on the development of new cultivars by Crop Research Division at Lincoln and Palmerston North. Quality and processing research is carried out at

the department’s Wheat Research Institute in Christchurch. Ms Wratt says the search for new varieties has four main thrusts: @ Better quality to allow the New Zealand producer to compete with the best on the world market. @ Improved disease resistance to reduce production costs and improve yields. The arrival of new diseases in the past 10 years has increased cultivar turnover and influenced current breeding programmes. ® Special cultivars for small, lucrative markets such as pasta, wholegrain and biscuit flour. © Regionally adapted cultivars such as sprout resistance for Southland and resistance against diseases which are more prevalent in the North Island.