World wheat growers face challenging future
UK wheat growers are not alone, with farmers across the world grappling with many challenges, including resistant weeds and drought.
United States
Key challenges (vary from one growing region to another):
- Drought and low yields are common in the Central Plains
- In the Northern Plains, shift to soya bean and maize at expense of wheat, as now more adapted to local conditions
- Fusarium head blight control becomes essential where maize is part of the crop rotation
- Weed resistance is spreading: grassweed resistance to ACCase and ALS herbicides and kochia resistance to ALS and glyphosate
Cereals in numbers (estimate for 2014-15 season) |
|
Wheat area 2014 (planted) |
23m hectares |
Average wheat yield 2014Â |
About 3t/ha |
Wheat production 2014Â Â Â Â Â Â |
55m tonnes |
Wheat exports 2013-14Â Â Â Â Â Â |
32m tonnes |
Australia
Key challenges:
- Climate variability (such as reliability of rainfall during growing season)
- Soil types are generally low in fertility and fragile in nature
- Herbicide resistance (weed species becoming resistant to multiple herbicide mode of action groups)
- Farm debt levels and access to finance continuing to squeeze input spend
- Increasing labour scarcity
- Investment in infrastructure and technology
- Growing competition in key export markets
Cereals in numbers (estimate for 2014-15 season) |
||
 |
Wheat |
Barley |
Planted area (m hectares) |
13.84 |
3.80 |
Yield (t/ha) |
1.65 |
1.97 |
Production (m tonnes) |
22.86 |
7.47 |
Argentina
Key challenges
- Government interventions: export taxes (23% for wheat and 20% for barley) and quotas for exports affect local prices and profitability
- Lack of predictability leads to more defensive planning
- Resistant weeds to the main modes of action used (glyphosate, ACCase, ALS). New species are being seen and the affected area is increasing
 Cereals in numbers (2014-15 season) |
||
 |
Wheat |
Barley |
Area (m hectares) |
4.2 |
0.92 |
Advance (%) |
95.9% |
100.0% |
Yield (t/ha) |
2.82 |
3.61 |
Estimated production (m tonnes) |
11.2 |
2.8 |
Canada
Key challenges:
- Environmental conditions: Reliance on timely moisture and optimum heat units during 120-day growing season
- Weed resistance issues: ACCase- and ALS-resistant grassweeds; ALS- and EPSPS-resistant broad-leaved weeds
- Yield stability: Achieving stability under a wide variety of agriclimatic conditions
- Disease: Growers targeting both leaf and ear disease with more intense fungicide applications
- Significant increase in fusarium incidence in past five years
Cereals in numbers (estimate for 2014-15 season) |
|||||
Area (m ha) |
% by class |
||||
Total wheat |
Canadian Western Red Spring |
Canadian Prairie Spring |
Durum |
Winter |
Other |
9.79 |
62% |
5% |
15% |
5% |
13% |
2014 seeded area 2012–2014 average grain yields (t/ha) |
|||||
Total wheat |
Canadian Western Red Spring |
Canadian Prairie Spring |
Durum |
Winter |
Other |
3.2 |
3.0 |
3.9 |
2.8 |
4.2 |
3.7
|
Ukraine
Key challenges:
- Climate is becoming more continental, challenging wheat drought resistance and winter hardiness
- Soils are generally rich in fertility, but 57.5% of soils are subject to erosion
- Farming techniques lack sustainability
- Limited knowledge of agribusiness management
- Limited access to markets (unfair farmgate price)
- Farm debt levels and access to finance lead to
low-input model - Farm land trade is under moratorium
Cereals in numbers (estimate for 2014-15 season)
- Maize and soya bean are the main crops competing with wheat
- Wheat area 2014 – 5.1m hectares (industrial sector)
- Most common crop rotation cycle: barley, winter oilseed rape, maize
UK
Key challenges:
- Maritime climate is extremely well suited to growing cereals. While not generally limited in terms of rainfall, sunlight or temperature, there is a growing tendency towards extreme weather patterns
- Grassweed resistance to ALS herbicides is the biggest threat and there are growing concerns over potential decreases in sensitivity of cereal diseases to modern fungicides
- Tightening regulations for pesticides affecting future advances in cereal production
Cereals in numbers harvest 2014 |
|
UK cereal area |
3.14m hectares with 1.85m hectares of wheat and 1.15m hectares of barley |
UK average yield |
Wheat averaged 8.4t/ha (range 5–12t/ha) |
Production |
16.6m tonnes of wheat and 7m tonnes of barley |
Poland
Key challenges:
- Average: rainfall 625mm, temperature 8C
- Growing problem with silky-bent grass resistant to ALS products
- Slow development of resistant septoria in the western part of Poland
- Wheat production with 65% monoculture
- Soils in Poland are generally poor, which is why only 2.5m hectares of wheat is cultivated
- In recent years no problems with access to capital or technologies on large farms
Cereals in numbers
- 1.5m farms of which 800,000 less than 5ha
- Total cereals area 7.2m hectares (but only 2.5m hectares of wheat)
- Total wheat production 11.5m tonnes
- Average yield 4.6 t/ha
Germany
Key challenges:
- Resistance issues
- Grassweeds such as blackgrass and silky-bent grass
- Fungal diseases such as microdochium, powdery mildew and Septoria tritici
- Competition in rotation: Wheat is largest crop in Germany. Most competitive crops are maize and oilseed rape
Cereals in numbers |
|||
 |
Acreage (000ha) |
Yield (t/ha) |
Production (m tonnes) |
Winter wheat |
3,173 |
8.7 |
27.5 |
Winter barley |
1,235 |
7.8 |
9.6 |
Winter rye |
636 |
6.1 |
3.9 |
Triticale |
425 |
7.1 |
3.0 |
Spring barley |
349 |
6.0 |
2.1 |
Spring wheat |
61 |
6.1 |
0.4 |
Oats |
125 |
5.1 |
0.6 |
Total |
6,004 |
7.9 |
47.1 |
France
Key challenges:
- Increase the production level in terms of unit labour input and per unit of area
- Increase wheat protein content
- Maintain good weed control in the rotation
Cereals in numbers
- Cereals area 2013: 7.5m hectares comprising 5.5m hectares of wheat and 1.5m hectares of barley
- 270,000 farms grow cereals which is 53% of total number of French farms
CropScience Cereal Future Forum
About 230 experts, farmer breeders and other representatives recently attended the Bayer CropScience Cereal Future Forum in Brussels. The aim was to discuss the challenges and new approaches to enhance wheat yield and quality.