By Andrew Arbuckle, farming editor

CEREAL GROWERS looking at the large numbers of new varieties coming down the breeding track should not be fooled into thinking that plant breeding is in robust financial health.

In fact, what is happening, according to one of the main operators in the industry, is that some seed houses are pushing out new varieties in a similar fashion to that of a closedown sale.

John Blackman, the managing director of CPB Twyford, speaking in Perth at the annual meeting of Scottish Agronomy this week, said that plant royalty income had fallen by 15% to 20% in the past five years and returns were now not meeting costs as far as plant breeding was concerned.

In order to keep on profitable lines, some breeding companies had moved out of crops grown on a smaller scale.

The result of this was that only one UK-based company is now breeding new varieties of oats while there is no work at all being carried out on beans, triticale, or rye.

Even major crops such as wheat and barley were now working with smaller breeding programmes behind them.

As far as the UK was concerned the big danger of this reduction in resource going into breeding was that it meant the cereal industry was losing its competitive edge.

Varieties bred in other parts of the globe were not selected with the unique UK climate in mind, Mr Blackman observed.

Neither was yield the top breeding priority abroad, thus removing the number one goal for UK growers.

The Scottish Agronomy members had earlier heard Igor Kowal, of Syngenta, a multi-national agri-business, state that when grain growers in the Ukraine got their act together, the European Union had better watch out.

Traditionally, this country, larger than France, was called the bread basket of the Soviet Union, but following the collapse of the former Communist bloc, it has only once, with the 2002 crop, had a material effect on the world trade in cereals.

Mr Kowal said he expected that it could take up to 10 years before the internal structures were in place for proper grain production in this country that borders the Black Sea.

In 2002 the yield for winter wheat in the Ukraine rose to just over three tonnes per hectare.

But last year, with poor seed, little in the way of crop protection chemicals and very poor infrastructure, this had fallen to only 1.47 tonnes per hectare.

The high yield in 2002 caused major ripples on the world market as some nine million tonnes was off-loaded in a dash for dollars.

The 2004 crop, which is already in the black, chernozym soil, is not likely to repeat the yield of two years ago, Mr Kowal remarked, to the relief of growers listening.

The use of pesticides in the Ukraine was similar to that of 50 years ago in this country.

However, the bigger challenge to increased production in the country came from confusion over land ownership, ancient machinery, a lack of a market infrastructure, a poor transport system and even theft of the grown crop.

Despite these many drawbacks, he was totally enthusiastic for the future and advised growers that there was a profusion of opportunities for westerners.

These openings were not for those “sitting back in Perthshire” and investing money, but for people who were prepared to go out, learn the language and establish themselves in the community.

He pointed out that several Scots have already done so and are now recognised within the Ukraine.