North Dakota 2020 Wheat Variety Survey
Posted: Oct 08 2020
The top five hard red spring wheat varieties planted in North Dakota in 2020 are SY Ingmar, SY Valda, WB 9590, SY Soren and Glenn. SY Ingmar and SY Valda held fairly steady with their 2019 acres. SY Ingmar has been the top variety in the state for four straight years and is the leading variety in all central and western areas in the state. SY Valda is the leading variety in the eastern third of the state. Both are releases from Syngenta/AgriPro.
WB 9590, a 2017 release from WestBred, jumped into third position in 2020, making the strongest year-to-year gains of all varieties. It is most popular in central and eastern areas of the state. Glenn, a 2005 release from North Dakota State University (NDSU), returned to the top five in 2020. Glenn, a one-time leading variety in the state, is known across the industry as an elite quality variety, and is often cited as the reference for end-use quality characteristics desired in the hard red spring wheat class.
Similar to 2019, a large list of varieties range from 2 to 3.5 percent in acreage share, reflective of the robust breeding programs serving the hard red spring wheat region. There has been a greater release of new varieties in recent years, but also a shorter life-cycle on varieties relative to a few years ago. A few of the varieties which made notable gains in share of acres in 2020, compared to 2019, include ND VitPro (NDSU), Ambush (Dynagrow), SY McCloud, SY Longmire, WB 9719 and WB 9479.
Joppa, a 2013 release from NDSU, is the leading durum variety in North Dakota in 2020, the fourth straight year at the top. Divide, a 2005 release from NDSU, and ND Riveland, a 2017 NDSU release, rank second and third. ND Riveland, showed the strongest year-to-year gains of any variety in 2020, increasing from just 2.4 percent acreage share in 2019 to 11.0 in 2020. An added benefit of ND Riveland is that it is a variety with a low cadmium (cd) uptake trait, a needed trait for the important EU market. VT Peak, a 2010 release from Viterra, moved into fourth position, and up slightly in share from 2019. The next five varieties named in the survey are Carpio, Alkabo, Lebsock and ND Grano, all are releases from NDSU.
The annual variety survey is jointly funded by the ND Wheat Commission (NDWC), the ND Ag Experiment Station and the ND State Seed Department. The 2020 survey data is based on a June survey of 2,374 producers which was conducted by the North Dakota Field Office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The NDWC thanks the producers that responded to the survey this year, as it is a very valuable source of information which is utilized by customers, producer groups, researchers, breeding programs, and many other facets of the wheat industry. The data is used in optimizing marketing efforts of the crop, analyzing traits most demanded by producers, and providing additional synergy to new variety development efforts. The survey is available on the NDWC website at www.ndwheat.com.