b'The wheat genome is way more complexoccupies half the worlds vegetated land. That means for agriculture, the sheer task of feeding the world is a huge than the human genomecan wechallenge for biodiversity and ecosystemsespecially since agriculture produces a quarter of the worlds green-figure it out in time to feed a growinghouse gas emissions.Searchinger presented the WRIs recent report Creating world population?Marc Zienkiewicz a Sustainable Food Future, for which he was lead author. It is laid out as a five-course menu of solutions to ensure A HALF-CENTURY AGO,human beings took their first steps onwe can feed 10 billion people by 2050 without increasing the moon. emissions, fueling deforestation or exacerbating poverty. At first, its hard to imagine what that has to do withSearchinger noted that between 2010 and 2050, food wheat, but for attendees of the first International Wheatproduction must rise 56% in order to feed a growing Congress held in Saskatoon, Sask. earlier this year, thepopulationand reduce greenhouse gas emissions by connection was apt. two-thirds in the process.I was 12 years old when that happened. Being aWheat can play a huge role in that, he said.young child and seeing this on a small black-and-whiteAccording to the report, to provide continuing yield TV was impressive. Two men walked on the moon,gains, breeding will need to become more nuanced. but the fact is, the moon landing was the result ofIn the past, much yield gain in the major cereals like 500,000 people working together, said Martin Kropff,wheat resulted from shifting biomass from vegetative director-general of the International Maize and Wheatparts to seeds and shortening and stiffening of the stems Improvement Center (CIMMYT), who spoke on the open- so they could support more grain (resulting from higher ing day of the congress. fertilizer application) without falling over. These traits, If we can put a man on the moon, we can solve 800which were largely responsible for the Green Revolution, million people going to bed hungry every day. Wheat is aare in some cases reaching their biological limits; crops crucial part of that challenge. can only grow so close to one another before they have Hosted by the University of Saskatchewan, the eventno more space, and crops can only direct so much of brought together 900 researchers, agronomists and othertheir growth into edible portions before they will no scientists from 50 countries to talk about all things T. aes- longer stand upright, the reports authors state. tivum and T. turgidum. These limits, plus the need to boost crop yields even The challenges ahead were the main focus as attendeesfaster than in historical trends, present the crop breeding zeroed in on the fact the world population is growing andchallenge.more food is needed, specifically cerealswhich KropffAs a result, four major related opportunities exist to said will comprise a third of all calories and protein in theincrease crop yields through improved breeding: speed-human diet in the future. ing up crop breeding cycles, marker-assisted and genom-But for food prices to remain constant, annual yieldics-assisted breeding, improvement of orphan crops, gains in wheat would have to increase from 1.2 to 1.7%. and genetic modification. Searchinger emphasized that all Thats no small challenge, Kropff added. these technologies play a role in creating new wheat for the world.Feeding the World Without Destroying It Thats why were here. The work youre doing is As noted by Tim Searchinger, senior fellow at the Worldincredibly important, he said, and added that four rec-Resources Institute (WRI), the reality is that agricultureommendations to enable innovation in wheat include 18GERMINATION.CA NOVEMBER 2019'