Writers: Tim W. McAlavy, (806) 746-6101, t-mcalavy@tamu.edu
Pam Dillard, (806) 359-5401, p-dillard@tamu.edu
Contact: Don Robinson, David Worrall, (940) 552-9941
John Sweeten, (806) 359-5401, j-sweeten@tamu.edu
Mark Lazar, (806) 359-5401, m-lazar@tamu.edu
VERNON — AgriPro Wheat, a division of Garst Seed Co., recently announced that Drs. David Worrall and Rollin Sears will join forces with Robert Bruns as the new management team for its wheat breeding program, a move which should strengthen collaborative ties between private and public wheat breeding programs.
Sears, a Kansas State University wheat breeder-geneticist, is widely know as “the father of Kansas wheat” for his 18-plus years of breeding and developing improved varieties for Kansas farmers. His varieties are planted on 50 percent of Kansas’ wheat acreage and 20 percent of the wheat acreage in Texas and Oklahoma. Sears chairs the National Wheat Improvement Committee and is known as a leading authority on wheat improvement and biotechnology.
Worrall will leave his position as a Texas A&M University small grains breeder at the Agricultural Research and Extension Center here on June 30. He began his work in Vernon in 1981, focusing on developing dual-purpose wheats for grain and forage production u varieties such as Siouxland 89; TAM 109, 200, 201, 202; and Lockett. He also serves on the National Wheat Improvement Committee and worked for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico prior to joining Texas A&M.
Bruns has held a variety of positions as an AgriPro wheat breeder. He helped develop 14 varieties from 1974-1985, served as hybrid wheat project manager from 1992-1994, and now manages the firm’s research and marketing efforts. He has focused on developing value-added and identity preserved varieties and hybrids.
AgriPro’s wheat program is based in Berthoud, Colo., but the company will soon fund new wheat research facilities for Worrall and Sears in Vernon, Texas, and Manhattan, Kan.
“We have a unique window of opportunity to bring new-technology wheat varieties to the market through our new wheat team,” said Col Seccombe, president of Garst Seed. “North American wheat farmers and the market are ready for them. Our new team has the experience, knowledge and vision to bring these trait-enhanced varieties to wheat growers.”
Worrall and Sears characterize their move as positive for both public and private wheat breeding efforts, and for wheat growers.
“Rollie, Robert and I have been colleagues for many years. We’ve always tried to be predictive about the future of wheat breeding,” Worrall said. “We feel that our industry is on the verge of substantial change…that varietal development is moving to the private sector.
“We view that as an opportunity to marry the best of varietal development with the best technology for the benefit of producers. We want to remain in the front of the pack and help lead that change in a way that will be friendly to production agriculture.”
“I’ll be doing the same thing, just wearing a different hat,” Sears recently told a member of the Kansas ag media while in Hays, Kan.
Worrall’s departure from Texas A&M was announced by Dr. Don Robinson, resident director of the Vernon center, at a recent ag day in Chillicothe. Robinson said Worrall will be sorely missed, and commended him for his work with producers.
“Farmers in this area know David as ‘Mr. Wheat.’ Whenever they have a problem or a question, they know they can count on him to help find an answer,” Robinson said. “We wish him the best of luck, and we soon will begin the daunting task of filling his shoes in our small grains research at Vernon.”
Dr. David Mengel, head of Kansas State’s department of agronomy, called Sears a “focal person” in their wheat breeding program and said the university will soon seek a replacement.
Worrall’s departure from Texas A&M’s statewide wheat breeding team will affect that team’s direction, said Dr. John Sweeten, resident director of the university’s Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Amarillo.
Scientists such as Sears and Worrall are not easily replaced, he said, but Texas A&M’s wheat breeding program will not diminish while national and international private sector breeding programs continue to expand.
“A strong private seed industry is healthy for wheat research in general,” Sweeten said. “Texas A&M’s program remains well-positioned to collaborate with private companies such as AgriPro.”
Dr. John Beverly, deputy vice chancellor of Texas A&M’s Agriculture Program and deputy director of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Sation, agreed with Sweeten.
“We have but one objective — providing Texas producers and the seed industry with the new varieties needed to meet production and marketing challenges, now and in the future,” Beverly said.
“Our statewide wheat improvement team will miss David Worrall’s experience and leadership,” said Dr. Mark Lazar, Texas A&M wheat breeder-geneticist based in Amarillo. “His move is yet another reason for us to keep our close ties to the private sector seed industry. Our goal is to continue varietal development so that producers have access to the best genetics possible in the form of new wheat varieties.”
Texas A&M currently has four hard winter wheat breeders, including Worrall and Lazar, Dr. Allan Fritz at College Station, and Dr. David Marshall in Dallas. It also conducts a soft wheat breeding program, headed by Drs. Marshall and Lloyd Nelson at Overton. The university’s other small grain research, focusing chiefly on oats, is directed by Drs. Marshall and Milton McDaniel in College Station.
Texas A&M small grains breeders were instrumental in forming the Southwestern Wheat Research and Education Consortium u an alliance of land-grant universities and producer groups in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado. The university will soon add a new building at its Bushland research site u a facility where scientists will evaluate, process and store seed taken from their 20,000-plus research plots. This seed is used to produce experimental lines of wheat that lead to new and improved wheat varieties.
AgriPro Wheat and Garst Seed Co. are part of the global Advanta Seeds group — owner and operator of a seed technology network that includes research, development and breeding facilities in 13 states and 12 countries.
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