Wheat Production

Why wheat genetics matters Wheat is one of the pillars of global food security: it provides about 18–20% of calories and proteins in the human diet worldwide, with much higher shares in North Africa and Western Asia. Understanding how varieties evolve and which tools breeders use is crucial for yields, quality, and the resilience of…

Wheat is not only the raw material for bread, pasta, or pizza: it is also an indicator of how our food system functions. In recent decades, the wheat supply chain has become highly globalized: grains grown in Canada or Ukraine reach Italian mills, flours produced in Europe end up in baked goods in Asia, and…

However, the growing threat of desertification is compromising the production stability of this strategic crop, with direct implications for food availability and global markets. Desertification, defined by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) as land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas due to climate factors and human activities, currently covers over…