ESTABLISHING AND ADDRESSING BREEDING PRIORITIES FOR WHEAT WITH RESPECT TO CLIMATE CHANGE

We propose to convene a small, multi-disciplinary group of U.S.-based scientists to articulate a framework for establishing breeding goals for wheat to increase climate change resilience. The scientists will be a hand-picked group comprising wheat breeders, climate modelers, crop modelers, plant physiologists, economists, and socio-spatial scientists. The group will have the following objectives: 1) To build consensus on the local-environment manifestations of climate change, which likely vary from region to region. 2) To prioritize breeding objectives that have the potential to meet these changing conditions. 3) To coordinate research across the many institutions involved in wheat breeding. 4) To connect wheat breeders with other scientists, modelers, and social scientists to identify potential scenarios and options that will encourage and facilitate breeding for climate resilience. 5) To identify and address the current constraints and incentives that shape the breeding and research portfolios of wheat breeders.The proposed meeting is the first step toward our longer-term goals of a) encouraging multi-disciplinary, longer-term, coordinated experiments; b) generating high-quality panel field trial data; c) creating institutional structures which incentivize teams of breeders, modelers, economists and other scientists to create a system that will deliver climate resilient wheat cultivars.