100 Years of Wheat Breeding

When you ask Dr. Andrew Green what it takes to turn a first cross into a variety a grower can actually plant, his answer is pretty blunt: "Many steps."

He isn't exaggerating. As only the fifth person to lead NDSU's spring wheat breeding program since L.R. Waldron got it started back in 1916, Green oversees a process that runs seven to eleven years from that first hand cross to a release decision. Each promising line is tested across no fewer than 27 to 30 environments around the state and screened for stem rust, leaf rust, bacterial leaf streak, and Fusarium head blight. It also faces at least five years of end-use quality testing — because a North Dakota variety has to perform not just in the field, but for the millers and bakers buying our wheat around the world. In a typical year, Green and his team — five full-time research technicians and assistant breeders — evaluate roughly 1,400 of their own lines out of hundreds of breeding populations.

It's a long game, and Green is quick to point out it isn't NDSU's alone. North Dakota Wheat Commission checkoff dollars help fund the winter nurseries and greenhouse space that keep the pipeline moving — and the benefits ripple outward. "This helps our program but also assists the entire market, including other programs, because our germplasm is used and shared freely with other breeders," he says.

Growers are already seeing the results. "ND Stampede was a turning point for our program," Green says of the variety that pairs about 20% better straw strength than Faller with higher protein and better end-use quality. And more is on the way: over the next couple of years, two newly released varieties will reach growers' fields — ND Horizon, which pushes protein even higher in eastern environments, and ND Roughrider, bred to better serve the dry western climate.

In a century, the fundamentals haven't changed as much as you might think. Green's team now leans on tools Waldron never had — genetic markers, predictive modeling, and accelerated growth breeding — to handle more material and make sharper decisions faster. But it still begins the same way it did in 1916: with a hand emasculation and a cross-pollination, guided by the same genetic principles that have always driven the work.

What's next? Stronger straw, better Fusarium head blight resistance, and improved bacterial leaf streak resistance — all without giving up yield. "I don't take the responsibility I have to produce competitive varieties lightly," Green says. After a stretch when NDSU's market share sat at a historic low, he's encouraged to see acreage climbing again — and he plans to keep pushing the program's genetic gains even further, building on a century of work one cross at a time.