IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/orinte/v47y2017i5p442-453.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Genetic Gain Performance Metric Accelerates Agricultural Productivity

Author

Listed:
  • Joseph Byrum

    (Syngenta Seeds, Inc., Slater, Iowa 50244)

  • Bill Beavis

    (Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011)

  • Craig Davis

    (Syngenta Seeds, Inc., Slater, Iowa 50244)

  • Greg Doonan

    (Syngenta Seeds, Inc., Slater, Iowa 50244)

  • Tracy Doubler

    (Syngenta Seeds, Inc., Slater, Iowa 50244)

  • Von Kaster

    (Syngenta Seeds, Inc., Slater, Iowa 50244)

  • Ron Mowers

    (Syngenta Seeds, Inc., Slater, Iowa 50244)

  • Sam Parry

    (Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona 85004)

Abstract

The agricultural seed industry invests billions of dollars each year to improve our understanding of how best to unlock a seed’s full potential. This investment brings a significant benefit to agricultural customers—the farmers who grow commodity crops, such as corn, soybeans, and wheat. Commodity farmers expect new crop varieties to be adapted to local conditions and have greater genetic potential for yield. We refer to the amount of increase in the genetic potential for yield as “genetic gain.” The agricultural seed industry needs a universal, unbiased metric for genetic gain performance (GGP). Therefore, in 2010 we developed and implemented an algorithm that calculates an unbiased GGP metric that eliminates environmental factors (e.g., solar radiation, rainfall, and temperature) and is applicable at each stage of the product development pipeline. We subsequently used this metric during the variety development stage of our breeding projects to measure the impact of operational changes. We used weighted averages of GGP to retrospectively evaluate changes in genetic gain across 10 years of our breeding pipeline to quantify the benefit. We estimate that genetic gains are now 40 percent greater than the gains seen before implementation of the GGP in 2010. Our analyses show that the GGP metric has saved Syngenta approximately $250 million in varietal development costs, which would otherwise have been required to improve genetic gain by 40 percent. Syngenta scientists now use GGP to evaluate the genetic gain of all breeding projects. It serves as a valuable early-warning system. At the end of each growing season, we collect yield data and update the GGP database. This allows our scientists to perform an annual evaluation of genetic advances in each market segment. These assessments identify potential performance gaps likely to surface in the next growing season so that they can be avoided. Our successful development and deployment of a genetic gain metric is an important advance for both Syngenta and the entire agricultural industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph Byrum & Bill Beavis & Craig Davis & Greg Doonan & Tracy Doubler & Von Kaster & Ron Mowers & Sam Parry, 2017. "Genetic Gain Performance Metric Accelerates Agricultural Productivity," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 47(5), pages 442-453, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:47:y:2017:i:5:p:442-453
    DOI: 10.1287/inte.2017.0909
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1287/inte.2017.0909
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/inte.2017.0909?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph Byrum & Craig Davis & Gregory Doonan & Tracy Doubler & David Foster & Bruce Luzzi & Ronald Mowers & Chris Zinselmeier & Jack Kloeber & Dave Culhane & Stephen Mack, 2016. "Advanced Analytics for Agricultural Product Development," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 46(1), pages 5-17, February.
    2. James N. Boles, 1955. "Linear Programming and Farm Management Analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 37(1), pages 1-24.
    3. Xu, Pan & Wang, Lizhi & Beavis, William D., 2011. "An optimization approach to gene stacking," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 214(1), pages 168-178, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maggi, Aldo Orestes, 1969. "Application of linear programming to planning dairy farms in the area of Tarariras, "Departamento de Colonia", Uruguay," ISU General Staff Papers 1969010108000018105, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    2. Mohannad Alobid & Bilal Derardja & István Szűcs, 2021. "Food Gap Optimization for Sustainability Concerns, the Case of Egypt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-17, March.
    3. Urbinati, Andrea & Bogers, Marcel & Chiesa, Vittorio & Frattini, Federico, 2019. "Creating and capturing value from Big Data: A multiple-case study analysis of provider companies," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 84, pages 21-36.
    4. Musshoff, Oliver & Hirschauer, Norbert, 2007. "What benefits are to be derived from improved farm program planning approaches? - The role of time series models and stochastic optimization," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 95(1-3), pages 11-27, December.
    5. Michael F. Gorman, 2021. "Contextual Complications in Analytical Modeling: When the Problem is Not the Problem," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 51(4), pages 245-261, July.
    6. Musshoff, Oliver & Hirschauer, Norbert, 2008. "Sophisticated Program Planning Approaches Generate Large Benefits in High Risk Crop Farming," 82nd Annual Conference, March 31 - April 2, 2008, Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, UK 36865, Agricultural Economics Society.
    7. Jensen, Harald R., 1977. "PART I. Farm Management and Production Economics, 1946-70," AAEA Monographs, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, number 337213, january.
    8. Billionnet, Alain, 2013. "Mathematical optimization ideas for biodiversity conservation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 231(3), pages 514-534.
    9. Easley, Eddie V., 1957. "An application of linear programming to the study of supply response in dairying," ISU General Staff Papers 195701010800002941, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:47:y:2017:i:5:p:442-453. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.