Generating solutions

Wheat is the most important crop for current and future global food security, as it supplies the most calories and proteins to the global population. Wheat is grown on more land area than any other commercial crop. Meeting the challenge of increasing wheat production to match the growing demand for food over the next 20–30 years is of paramount importance. Current yield gains (~0.67% per year) are impressive but will not meet the need (1.6-1.8%) of a growing global population and may become unsustainable due to lack of new genetic diversity. 4DWheat will apply the very latest in genomic strategies to address this gap by focusing on two major challenges: enhancing yield and managing producer risk to important diseases. 4DWheat will apply cutting-edge genomics for “harnessing Diversity, advancing Domestication, enabling Discovery, and expediting Delivery” of new sources of genetic variation. Applying genomic tools will result in strategies to fully capture diversity in wheat breeding. The project will also quantify the current and future value of wheat genetic resources and examine regulatory networks to promote their utilization using new breeding technologies.