Seeds of Destruction : Spreading Fungus Imperils Entire U.S. Wheat Harvest

EL CENTRO, Calif. — Farmer Mark Osterkamp has too much experience with capricious weather, plagues of pests and other daily calamities to ever count his profits before he’s actually harvested a crop.

Still, he was looking forward to good, maybe great, money from his durum wheat, which he was planning to harvest next month at near-record prices.

But last week, his hopes wilted like hay in the scorching El Centro sun. That’s when he learned that Karnal bunt, a potentially devastating wheat malady first seen in India in the 1930s, had made its way into California, having spread to Blythe and Ripley in Riverside County from infected areas in Arizona.

Then on Tuesday came the hammer: The fungus, which on Monday prompted the federal government to order the destruction of 4,000 infested acres in Texas and New Mexico, was confirmed to be present in Imperial Valley. Owners of two small wheat fields had planted seed from tainted lots in Arizona.

Osterkamp--and wheat farmers all over the valley--are on the edge of their tractor seats as they watch for the seemingly inevitable spread of the fungus to their fields. Government agricultural experts, meanwhile, are scrambling to contain the infection and to keep unwitting truckers and rail boxcars filled with grain from spreading the malady across the nation, potentially endangering America’s entire $4.9-billion wheat export program for this year and beyond.

Although Karnal bunt-infested wheat poses no health hazard, it makes flour unpalatable and fishy smelling, thereby slashing its value or rendering it unusable.

Foreign buyers, who were to have bought more than half of California’s $280-million wheat crop this year, may refuse to fulfill purchase contracts if fields prove to be significantly infested. Up to now, most importing countries have routinely rejected wheat from India, Mexico and a handful of other countries where the fungus has appeared.

So far, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has succeeded in persuading some customers to accept at least some varieties of U.S. wheat by guaranteeing its health. But the largest buyer of U.S. wheat--China--has not yet signed off. And last week, Canada issued an edict banning all U.S. durum wheat and all varieties of wheat from four infected states, including California.

UC Davis wheat agronomist Leland Jackson calls the infestation “very bad news,” not only for the economic damage it wreaks on individual farmers, but for its potential to harm the far larger wheat farms in the Midwest where crops are now clean and far removed from the infested regions.

“This could potentially disrupt the export market and not just for California, since wheat moves in rail cars, ships and trucks,” Jackson said. “You can potentially contaminate the entire U.S. system, which means that we could end up having, in a worst-case scenario, countries refusing to receive wheat from anywhere in the U.S.”

Thus, with harvest time fast approaching, Osterkamp and his brethren farmers don’t know whether they’ll be prosperous or broke next month. Much of Osterkamp’s net worth is tied up in his 700 acres of wheat.

They don’t know whether the USDA will order blanket crop destruction or allow some wheat to leave the valley under rigid but still unspecified controls. Scientists like Jackson said infested fields must be destroyed before harvest. But farmers want to be able to ship wheat from fields that test negative for the fungus.

Of course, they don’t know whether anyone will want to buy the stuff anyway.

And if crop destruction is ordered, Osterkamp said the $300-per-acre compensation promised by the USDA to Texas and New Mexico farmers to destroy their wheat would cover “about half” what he invested in his crop.

Osterkamp, 43, is one of hundreds of California farmers who planted twice the usual acreage of durum wheat in the fall when prices for spring delivery hit 20-year highs. Durum is used mainly to make pasta, and durum prices are up because of increased demand for pasta and because of crop problems last summer in North Dakota and Minnesota, he said.

The California crop was to have nearly doubled in cash value this year from 1995, approaching $280 million, according to the California Wheat Commission. About 15% of the nation’s durum is grown in winter in the Southwest and California, while the rest is grown in North Dakota and Minnesota in the summer.

Like most of his neighbors, Osterkamp has no insurance on his wheat crop because it has traditionally been a low-margin, low-risk crop to grow. Meanwhile, he awaits word from the government.

“It’s like the government telling you that you have an especially dangerous kind of termite in your house that you have to tear it down to prevent it from spreading. You say, ‘Fine, but is someone going to pay me for it?’ ” Osterkamp said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Karnal Knowledge

* What is Karmal bunt? A fungus spread by an airborne spore that shrinks wheat grain, reducing yield and giving it an unpalatable, fishy smell.

* Where is it? In California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico

* How did it get here? Probably via storm clouds from Mexico.

* Where did it come from? It was first detected in the town of Karnal, India, in the 1930s and has since spread throughout India as well as to Pakistan, Turkey, Mexico and now the U.S.

* Is there any known treatment? No, but farmers who refrain from planting wheat in infested fields for five years may safely replant afterward.

* Why is it damaging? The fungus itself poses no health hazard. But because it reduces yield and damages wheat crops, many countries do not accept any wheat from countries that do have Karnal bunt. That means an entire U.S. export wheat crop, valued at $4.9 billion, is at at risk. The Agriculture Department is negotiating with importing countries to allow U.S. wheat shipments.

* What is the government doing about it? The Agriculture Department has ordered the destruction of infected Texas and New Mexico crops. Today, officials are expected to announce what the USDA will do in Arizona and California.

Sources: USDA, Imperial County agricultural commissioner, UC Davis