“Planting is coming soon. I have two varieties that I want to pass on to Montana farmers, one for irrigated farmers and one for dryland farmers that would work well for them,” Clemens said.

Breeding for WestBred takes place in Twin Falls, Idaho, where there are greenhouses, the quality lab, and wheat development all taking place in one site for greater efficiency in wheat.

One thing Clemens has noticed is everywhere he goes he gets pushed back for WestBred wheat not having names instead of a numbering system.

“People say they get lost in these numbers, so I’m starting to focus more on the wheat nomenclature and making sure that at any kind of grower meeting or seed meeting that I am at, I lead with that slide on the nomenclature,” he said.

Clemens explained that some of the older ones did have names like Keldin.

“We just don't do that anymore, and I sent that nomenclature because they do have meaning when we talk about a variety,” he said.

The first number says what type of wheat it is, and “9” is hard red spring wheat.

That second number is the relative maturity.

“It goes on a scale from 1 to 9, so 1 on a maturity would be the earliest maturing variety and 9 would be the latest maturity,” he said.

The third number is the year of commercial launch, so if it has a zero, it was a 2020 commercial variety. If it has a 4, it was a 2024 commercial variety.

“The last number is random,” Clemens said. If there are numbers after that, it could be a Clearfield system.

WestBred has changed its number system, so if farmers knew it a while ago, it may have changed.

Clemens talked about WB9707 for irrigated growers and WB9449 for dryland growers.

“This variety has excellent high protein and good test weight. It has great standability,” he said. “We really gear this towards the irrigated market. It fits both dryland and irrigated, but it’s really for Montana irrigated growers. That is the best fit.”

This variety has been in the pipeline long enough that there is a lot of certified seed available through multiple outlets and co-ops.

Clemens said there were many irrigated growers in the Rocky Mountain area, in south central Montana and in northeastern Montana.

“There is a whole lot of irrigated fields out there, and the reason why we have had a ‘back and forth story’ with this variety is because last year it was put on the Grain Craft’s preferred variety list,” he said. “So, they like its quality.”

Grain Craft, LLC, has been partnering with growers and grain elevators in recent years to segregate a select group of 33 high-performing wheat varieties, paying growers a premium as an incentive.

Those wheat varieties Grain Craft puts on their preferred lists are high quality, especially for milling and baking, and WB9707 is on the list.

“Now it’s on the list, and we’re seeing this variety starting to gain a lot of acres, and a lot of people are interested in it,” he said. “It does have that higher yield potential, and it has great protein content. Its standability under irrigation is good, and it does have good resistance to stripe rust. We rank it on a scale of 1-9, with 1 being best on stripe rust, and it’s rated a 3.”

In some areas of Washington, there was stripe rust last year early on.

“We saw areas where it was starting to kind of take off and all indications were that it was going to be a blowup year. Did we have stripe rust? Did we have to spray for it? Yes, but it wasn't an all-out explosive year,” he said.

Clemens said it is important when we talk about the Pacific Northwest and Montana to ensure there is stripe rust protection.

“I would say for the most part, farmers have mentioned how it performs under irrigation. They like it – it is a high yielding variety and has high protein content,” he said.

WB9449 was out for commercial release in 2024.

“This is when we’re going to focus more on that tougher dryland acre, that Golden Triangle area and in eastern Montana.

“I would call this variety a semi-solid variety. It does have some decent resistance or tolerance to the sawfly. It’s not a solid stem, but we call it a semi-solid stem. It is a mid-maturing variety,” Clemens said.

In addition, WB9449 has great standability and is shorter in stature, has good test weight, good protein content and high yield potential.

“A watch-out for this variety would be stripe rust – it essentially has no stripe rust resistance,” he said. “From our breeding trials, it was a very consistent variety. The main reason it went commercial is we were looking for those consistencies of how it was performing in general. This one is really to replace WB Gunnison, which is probably our oldest variety.”

Gunnison also had excellent tolerance to wheat stem sawfly as a semi-solid, but WB9449 often outyields it.

Clemens said it has been tested throughout the years, including in the Golden Triangle.

“We have enough data points from western Montana locations to feel comfortable with it. Anywhere that it is on dryland, it might be a good variety. It has some resistance to sawfly,” he said.

WB9449 will be available for certified seed in 2025.