Increasing the Sweetness of White Wheat — Currently, there is an ongoing 



MAES research project In which it is hoped to increase the sweetness of 

 white wheat. The white wheat is expected to be used in breakfast 

 cereal and have increased value over current wheats. If Montana has an 

 advantage in producing this wheat (which may be accomplished by using a 

 nonrust-resistant wheat strain, for example), then Montana producers 

 are expected to gain in the short run. Eventually other scientists 

 will place the sweetness characteristic in other strains and the 

 technological advancement will spread. In this case, Montana producers 

 will hopefully gain in the short run and may even have long-term 

 positive benefits since it may be considered a new higher valued 

 product. 



The scientists who are involved with the last researcK project , 

 including myself, are concerned about the ethics of attempting to slow 

 technological development by placing the sweetness characteristic in a wheat 

 variety in which Montana has a production advantage rather than a variety 

 which can be grown more universally. Such activity has similar effects on 

 an economy as other noncompetitive activity such as attempting to create 

 monopolies. 



In the long term, if Montana producers are to prosper, there must be 

 technological advancement in order to remain competitive since It is highly 

 unlikely that other areas of the U.S. and the world are going to stand 

 technologically still. A similar argument holds true for technological 

 development in the U.S. versus the rest of the world. If the U.S. wishes to 

 continue to be a leader in agricultural production, the U.S. must remain 

 technologically competitive. 



