HOW WHEAT RESEARCH IS RESPONDING TO FOOD SECURITY CHALLENGES
THE WHEAT INITIATIVE UNVEILS ITS STRATEGIC RESEARCH AGENDA
(Berlin, July 15th) The Wheat Initiative presented its updated Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) on July 5th, 2022, at the Botanic Garden in Berlin at an official event. 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 2022 SRA outlines global research priorities and options to tackle the many threats and opportunities facing wheat productivity. Foremost amongst the challenges are the impacts of climate change including heat, drought, flooding or untimely frost associated with a highly variable climate. The SRA not only presents and highlights the challenges, but offers possible solutions through the coordination and combined research efforts undertaken by the dynamic and dedicated 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.
At the official launch Dr Burkhard Schmied, Head of the Agricultural Production, Horticulture, Agricultural Policy Department of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, gave the welcome remarks and commented:
“The WI provides all those involved with a great opportunity to join the operation to help strengthen wheat research and consequently also to help ensure global food security” ... “There is no doubt that the WI is a successful example of international networking of research on wheat. It offers a very good platform as a contact point and a source for information and in this sense yields a high return on investment.”
The Wheat Initiative, as an organisation, was introduced by Prof. Dr Frank Ordon, President of the JKI, the German Federal Research Center for Cultivated Plants (where the Wheat Initiative is hosted), and Chairman of the WI Research Committee. The SRA was introduced by Prof. Dr Peter Langridge, University of Adelaide, and Chairman of the WI Scientific Board. Concluding remarks were made by John Spink, Chairman of the Institutions’ Coordination Committee of the Wheat Initiative, Head of Crops, Environment and Land Use Programme, Teagasc, Ireland.
The distinguished audience, which included representatives of the Berlin-based embassies of Argentina, France, Spain, Turkey, Uruguay and USA - Foreign Agricultural Service received the SRA well. Several members of the WI Scientific Board were also present and joined in the post-launch discussion: Dr Chris Burt (UK/RAGT), Dr Sylvie Cloutier (Canada), Dr Fiona Doohan (Ireland) and Dr Roberto Tuberosa (Italy). Representing CIMMYT, a member of the WI, Victor Kommerell, director of the CGIAR research programs on maize and wheat. Other guests included Wolf von Rhade, chairman of the Community for Plant Innovation (CFPi) and its managing director Stefan Lütke-Entrup, Prof. Dr Jochen Reif, head of the Breeding Research Department at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), and Prof. Dr Thomas Borsch, director general of the Botanic Garden in Berlin.
The Wheat Initiative was established in 2011 with the support of G20 agriculture ministers to help improve world food security.
For more information regarding the Wheat Initiative please visit our website www.wheatinitiative.org and sign up for the quarterly newsletter at www.wheatinitiative.org/newsletter
Contact
Wheat Initiative
Programme Manager: Teresa Saavedra
wheat.initiative@julius-kuehn.de