Wheat Initiative prioritizes climate change impacts on wheat

Berlin – Europe’s Wheat Initiative emphasizes climate change impacts as a top concern among its global research priorities and options to tackle the  threats and opportunities facing wheat productivity in its latest Strategic Research Agenda.

Foremost among the challenges are the impacts of climate change including heat, drought, flooding or untimely frost associated with a highly variable climate, the organization said.

The updated paper features a section on the impact of climate change on wheat production.

According to the paper, “Though wheat is originally the most cold and drought tolerant crop among the major staple crops, it is unfortunately also the most sensitive to high night and day temperatures. Wheat yield models indicate that a 1°C temperature increase reduces yield potential of wheat by 10% in some parts of the world and that the wheat producers in South Asia and North Africa will be hit hardest by climate change. Experts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that an average temperature increase of 1.5-6°C by the end of this century is very likely.”

The SRA not only presents and highlights the challenges, but offers possible solutions through the coordination and combined research efforts undertaken by the research community of the Wheat Initiative. Leading researchers from around the world have collaborated to create this updated SRA and define its short-, medium- and long-term objectives.

The first version of the SRA was launched in 2015, and its short-term objectives have been largely achieved. The updated SRA refocuses research priorities to address the many challenges facing wheat production today.

The Wheat Initiative was established in 2011 with the support of G20 agriculture ministers to help improve world food security.

Read the full paper, An International Vision for Wheat Improvement.