With a goal to raise the genetic potential of wheat yields 50 percent by 2035, a consortium of public organizations will launch the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP) next week during the Borlaug Summit on Wheat for Food Security at CIMMYT.
The new initiative will evolve from the Wheat Yield Consortium established by CIMMYT in 2009. CIMMYT will act as host for IWYP but the program will operate as a separate entity with its own governance. Donors include CIMMYT, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, Australia’s Grains Research & Development Corporation and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, with additional support from other international organizations.
CIMMYT says IWYP’s donors will work together with the private sector to form a strong, global public-private partnership focused on stimulating progress in wheat research and moving scientific discoveries into market-ready products for developing and developed nations.
According to Steve Visscher, BBSRC’s deputy chief executive and chief operating officer, “There are many ways we can increase wheat yield, such as improving wheat’s photosynthetic efficiency,” he said. “Wherever breakthroughs are found, they will be bred as rapidly as possible into elite, commercially viable seed by CIMMYT or other public sector breeding programs and by the private sector. Their potential will then be evaluated in relevant environments across the world and continually developed until those capable of achieving the desired yield gains can be released as finished varieties.”
Source : uswheat.org