Wheat Product Development

The mission of the Pioneer Wheat Research program is to develop the best soft red and soft white winter wheat varieties, which provide customers with a consistent income advantage and meet the specific production demands of the wheat industry today and in the future.

The goals of the Pioneer Wheat Research team are to:

Develop and release superior wheat products with increased harvestable yield and yield stability.
Incorporate superior and reliable sources of disease and insect resistance through intensive breeding and use of marker-assisted selection technologies.
Enhance grain quality to add value for milling, baking and human food nutrition needs.

For more than 35 years, the foundation of the Pioneer wheat breeding program has been its uniquely diverse genetics. With this long-term commitment and focus, Pioneer wheat researchers have steadily improved grain yields and the overall package of defensive traits to provide the best soft wheat varieties available in the market today.

Highlights of Pioneer Wheat Research:

Product Development - The development of Pioneer® brand wheat varieties begins with elite germplasm that has been recombined in carefully planned complementary crosses. Unlike some competitors, the Pioneer wheat breeding program does not simply make crosses of current popular varieties from other breeding programs. Pioneer breeders annually make more than 1,000 new genetic combinations that constantly build on the strengths of Pioneer's unique, elite germplasm. Careful selections are made in the field and in the laboratory from more than 100,000 populations each season to identify the best experimental varieties for further selection and performance testing. After several years of selection, thousands of experimental varieties are tested across a wide range of environments and growing conditions. The most promising elite varieties are tested for several more years at more than 30 locations spread across the North American soft wheat region. Pioneer researchers ensure that the strengths and potential weaknesses of every variety are thoroughly understood before they are considered for commercial release. As a result, Pioneer customers get top-performing wheat varieties for their farms with more stable performance under a wide range of environmental conditions.

Disease Resistance - By leveraging new, marker-assisted selection technologies with strong breeding and disease screening programs, breeders work to improve resistance to key diseases such as Fusarium head blight (scab), leaf rust, stripe rust, powdery mildew, leaf blight, soil borne viruses and barley yellow dwarf virus.

End-use Quality - All Pioneer® brand wheat varieties are characterized for specific end-use traits such as flour milling and baking properties. Pioneer researchers also work with processors to identify varieties with added-value traits for end-use that could enhance profitability for Pioneer customers.

Wheat Research Locations by Region
Europe	2

Last Modified:May 30, 2007