Background on the Small Grain Initiative
Minnesota lawmakers first appropriated funding to advance research of Fusarium Head Blight (FHB, scab) in 1994, following the severe 1993 epidemic that affected much of the Northern Plains.
The Minnesota Fusarium Head Blight funding is now referred to as the “Small Grain Initiative (SGI). The SGI is awarded to faculty within the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) on a biennial basis. The SGI provides a means for the U of M to initiate or accelerate problem-solving or opportunity research, and associated extension programs, and to support and sustain Minnesota’s wheat and barley industry. Although there are no set guidelines for minimum or maximum grants, it is the intent to fund significant, comprehensive proposals, rather than small individual proposals.
The funds are restricted to project expenses; they are not intended for long-term recurring commitments for faculty and staff.
Review Process
A faculty review committee conducts an initial screening of the proposals and then provides recommendations to the SGI Steering Committee. The SGI steering committee is composed of:
- Executive Director—Minnesota Wheat Growers Association
- A Minnesota wheat grower
- Executive Director—Minnesota Barley Growers Association
- A Minnesota barley grower
- The SGI Coordinator
- Associate Dean for Research and Outreach
Progress and final reports are a requirement of funding.
Accomplishments
What has resulted is a scab research/extension initiative that may be the largest and most comprehensive effort among agricultural experiment stations in the nation. Thanks to the sustained funding commitment by the state of Minnesota, the U of M SGI has resulted in a number of structural and programmatic accomplishments including a working coalition between small grain producers and the U of M, stronger linkages with crop scientists regionally and nationally to focus on scab research, and increased public awareness of the community-wide impacts of agricultural disasters.
The Imitative has resulted in better greenhouse and filed research techniques, so that plant breeding material and pest management protocols can be tested no matter what the weather conditions. The Initiative has also resulted in a more rapid and accurate means of measuring micotoxin levels in grain samples.
Programmatic accomplishments include new wheat and barley varieties with improved scab tolerance, to be followed by even better varieties several years down the road. The Initiative has also resulted in the discovery of sources and different types of scab resistance in exotic and domestic gene pools, and a better understanding of management techniques. This includes chemical and biological control products, and application techniques, as well as a better understanding of the impacts of tillage, previous crop, row spacing, companion crops and other crop management approaches as a means of minimizing the susceptibility of wheat and barley o scab.
The Minnesota SGI was used as a model to obtain federal research funding via USDA-ARS. The current funding for the National Scab Initiative is $5.5 M. A Minnesota wheat grower serv3ed on the first steering committee.