By Brenna Goth/CIMMYT
What do you know about wheat?
The crop is the focus of the Borlaug Summit on Wheat for Food Security, an event CIMMYT is hosting in March to celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of Dr. Norman Borlaug. Topics of the summit range from the history of wheat, to the work of Dr. Borlaug, to climate change and world grain policy.
Here are a few things you might not know about wheat and wheat research. Take a look and then test your knowledge by taking our wheat quiz!
10. CIMMYT’s gene bank in Mexico contains about 140,000 wheat accessions.
9. The demand for wheat is rising in Africa.
8. Wheat availability and prices may contribute to civil unrest.
7. Researchers are mapping wheat chromosomes.
6. High temperatures can cut wheat yields.
5. Wheat was recently grown in outer space.
4. Indigenous trees may be able to minimize the effects of climate change on wheat in Ethiopia.
3. Scientists are fighting Ug99 – a wheat disease sometimes referred to as the “Red Menace.”
2. Farmers in India are using cell phones to access information about wheat.
1. Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico, is where Dr. Borlaug started some of his most important wheat research.
Nutrition, health and food security 