Why Wheat is an “Orphan Crop:” Conclusion
The chart above shows the historical average yields for wheat and corn in the US. Note that until the 1930s the relative yields of the crops were similar and were not changing. After that time yields of both crops began to rise steadily, but corn yields have grown at a much faster pace. What explains this difference?
There are several interacting factors behind this, and they work together to create the “orphan” status of wheat as a crop. Corn is a hybrid crop which enhances its yield and the ease of increasing its yield through breeding. Wheat is harder to hybridize so it isn’t practical except for extremely high yielding wheat areas like Northern Europe. Instead, US wheat is largely a “saved seed crop” meaning that the grower can simply save back some of the grain and replant it rather than needing to buy new hybrid seed each year. That system is workable, particularly if the grower periodically buys some “certified seed” to have a purer stand and to take advantage of breeding improvements. The down-side of a “saved seed crop” is that there is not a very big private seed industry to invest in the crop. Most of the breeding is done by University and USDA breeder supported by tax dollars and there is a small private industry as well. As I said in the previous post, these breeders have done a remarkable job with the resources they have, but in an increasingly ag-unaware society, that support is never generous.
