b'The wheat genome is five times as bigpolicies, that have unfortunately been more focus on high value as maize, four times as big as a humans,crops such as cherries, apples, oranges and olives, and horticul-and 10 to 20 times bigger than the riceture crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, onions and eggplants for genome. export, Bassi says. However, basic management practices for Because there are three genomesstaple crops such as wheat have suffered. present in wheat, hybridization is dif-The wheatOther challenges include trial maintenance and information ficult. Wheat is a self-pollinated crop, sogenome isdelivery. Research trials are not always well maintained, and the specific methods are required to gener- 5timesdata from these trials is not made public. Inadequate information ate hybrids. While France and India havedistribution systems provide a challenge in educating farmers some hybrid wheat developed through aas big as about the advantages of new wheat cultivars. chemistry process, its only a small part ofmaize, andDelivery of varieties to farmers is still challenging, Bassi says, 20 their market.10- but new models based on village or farm-based seed enter- In developing countries, the complex- times prises have shown very positive results, both in terms of speed ity of yield stability, which measures theof replacing old ones, as well as facilitating the purchase of new consistency of a crop yield from year tobigger than the ones by farmers that would normally not have access to credit.year, is a concern.rice genome. Farmer-to-farmer agreements let growers delay their pay-Many of the farmers we reach arements for new seeds until after the harvest, which means that very small, with the average farm size lessthey dont need to buy seed with bank credits. than half a hectare, Braun says. FarmersWheat Sometimes, the seed purchase can be as simple as paying can only afford to grow one variety.provides half a lamb when it is butchered, or an agreed fraction of the If that one variety fails, farmers cant20% harvest, Bassi explains. easily switch. He believes hybrids can pro-vide a better yield stability, although notof all calories andNutrition and Industrial Qualitynecessarily a higher yield potential.protein. The cropOn a global scale, wheat provides 20% of all calories and protein. For us, its important to develop culti- is an importantThe crop is an important source of zinc, Vitamin B and other vars with good yield stability, he says. source of zinc,compounds for many consumers, and varieties are being bred Vitamin B andfor higher zinc and iron content. Education and Promotion other compounds. Braun notes that industrial quality, the quality of gluten to Gerard notes that there is a false percep- make bread, is increasing in importance. tion that there hasnt been innovation inIts already important in the developed world in mills, Braun wheat.Aboutsays. In the developing world, much of wheat is processed The innovation in other crops is90%locally. Industrial processing becomes more important because very visible, especially since its traitmore people live in the cities. They buy flour or finished wheat driven, he says. We as wheat innovatorsof all wheat flour products.havent communicated the innovationis from refinedWeather changes can affect the final product, as well. Braun and amount of investment thats gonewheat, and onlynotes that while increased carbon dioxide can be good for crop on during the past 10 years. We need to10%yield, it might not be good for product quality. For example, it promote the innovation.may diminish protein quality and quantity.In North America, investments inis from whole Most of the vitamins, fiber and other nutritional aspects of wheat are at record levels.grain. wheat are contained in the bran. One way that the United States hasThese benefits are obtained through whole wheat grain con-showcased success in wheat produc- sumption, Braun says. tion is with the National Wheat YieldWe need a campaign for whole wheat grain consumption, Contest, which began in 2015. The con- he says. When we focus on micronutrients, we focus on coun-test, administered by the National Wheattries that consume whole grain, as they get whole benefit from Foundation, judges yield and quality ofwheat grain. About 90% of all wheat flour is from refined wheat, wheat. The 2018 winner entered a yieldand only 10% is from whole grain. If split 50/50, it would have a of more than 200 bushels per acre, whiletremendous impact on the health of millions in developing and several contestants yielded more thandeveloped countries. 100 bushels per acre.But in some countries, a lack of educa- Wheat Genetics and Variety Selection Are Keytion about the use of improved manage- Having completed the sequencing of the wheat genome, sci-ment practices is a challenge for farmers.entists now have more genetic information available to develop This is a lack of integrative agriculturalnew varieties and other tools for wheat producers.80/ SEEDWORLD.COMDECEMBER 2019'