FY18 REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
RFP Title:
High Oleic Soy Diversity
Proposal Manager’s Name:
Kelly Whiting
RFP Contact:
Connie Davis
Proposal Start Date:
10/1/2017
Completion Date:
9/30/2018
Proposal Deadline:
4/24/2017
Anticipated Decision Date:
7/22/2017
Action Team:
Target Area:
Program Goal:
Road Map:
Track:
Milestone(s):
Audience:
Objective:
Stage:
Supply
Oil
Sustainable Production
Oil Diversity - Differentiating soybean oil product to meet future end user needs.
Technical Solution (Creating competitive advantage for U.S. soy growers by
differentiating soy offerings throughout the value chain, leveraging the latest
technological advancements and innovations)
2.0 MM acres of high oleic soy planted.
Seed Companies
Objective B: Seed companies will develop and commercialize improved seed
varieties and help convert research innovation into applications.
Technical Solution Stage 2 - Investigation Stage - Explore important problems,
opportunities & potential solutions for feasibility
Innovativeness: Moderate (New but familiar market or solution)
Description/Purpose of RFP
Current Issue/Opportunity:
The USB goal of achieving 18 million acres of high oleic soybean planted by 2023 is best
achieved by continuing to support development of diverse sources of high oleic soybean
germplasm. Ultimately the USB goal is to make the opportunity to grow high oleic soybean
available to soybean farmers throughout the U.S. All soybean improvements benefit from
exploiting diverse sources of genetic variation. In addition it is critical that new adapted, highyielding soybean germplasms are developed using these diverse sources of variation for high
oleic oil soybean varieties are available for planting over the entire soybean growing region.
Current Market Environment:
The development of high oleic soybean varieties resulted from a loss of market share for soybean oil in
the U.S. food market, declining by 4 billion lbs. after the 2005/06 advent of trans-fat labeling. Another 2
billion lbs. of soybean oil demand is at risk due to the loss of GRAS (generally regarded as safe) status for
partially hydrogenated oils. These market share losses have resulted in the need for dependable supply
of soybean oil with high oxidative stability and shelf life. High oleic soybean oil has the potential to
meet that need. Currently there are two major sources of high oleic soybean varieties available
commercially in very distinct geographies. These are represented by varieties; Plenish
developed by DuPont Pioneer and Vistive Gold varieties developed by Monsanto. There are
also germplasms that are currently near varietal development that have resulted from two
natural gene mutations in the FAD2 gene that were discovered at the University of Missouri in
conjunction with USDA-ARS. Additional work is underway to develop high oleic germplasm
using other genome editing technologies such as TALEN or CRISPR.
Proposal Direction:
A continued search for new sources of variation is critical to the continued expansion of high
oleic soybean offerings. It is also necessary to further develop these diverse sources of high
oleic soybean into varieties through crossing high oleic parent lines with adapted, high- yielding
lines so that high oleic soybean germplasm is available in adapted germplasms in the major
maturity groups grown in the U.S. We are requesting research proposals aimed at both,
identifying new sources of genetic variation for high oleic soybean, as well as the development
of widely adapted advanced germplasm lines of high oleic soybean using currently available
sources of genetic variation.
Proposal Submission Instructions:
To request a proposal worksheet to assist you in developing your proposal in USB’s correct
format, please contact:
Connie Davis; [email protected]
For strategic and project specific questions, please contact:
Kelly Whiting; [email protected]
For budget and compliance questions, please contact:
Connie Davis; [email protected]