Wheat and Related Crops: Closing the yield gap – bridging science, breeding, and societal impact

Global food demand continues to rise with population growth, while crop productivity and yield stability are increasingly challenged under increasing climatic variability. Wheat, a cornerstone of human nutrition and global trade, must therefore deliver higher and more reliable yields amid growing environmental pressures. Developing cultivars capable of sustaining productivity across diverse and unpredictable production environments is essential to meeting future demand. Despite rapid advances in scientific knowledge, breeding capacity, and agronomy, substantial yield gaps persist between yield potential and production realized in farmers’ fields. These gaps represent missed opportunities for food security, and economic development, particularly where yield stability is increasingly challenged. Addressing the yield gap requires more than isolated scientific breakthroughs; it demands strong interconnection between discovery driven research, breeding innovation, and pathways that translate progress into realized societal benefit.

This symposium focuses on wheat and related crops to examine how closer integration of science, technology and breeding can help minimize the yield gap. The program spans genetic discovery, gene bank conservation, and trait development, as well as the broader societal context in which new cultivars are deployed, including industry, policy, and food value chains. Professor Curtis Pozniak’s research has played a pivotal role in advancing wheat breeding through the development of resistant, high yielding varieties adapted to diverse production environments.

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