Malende has been a focus of CIMMYT’s major research programs since 2005, where cropping systems based on the practices of conservation agriculture have been introduced.

The controversial debate among researchers about the suitability of conservation agriculture for smallholder farmers in Africa continues while millions face food insecurity and degrading resources.

For Ethiopian smallholder farmers who have for millennia used the traditional animal-drawn maresha plow, two-wheel tractors could increase their productivity while reducing labor.

Africa’s demand for wheat is being driven by population growth, urbanization, as well as from a growing female work force who prefer fast and easy to make wheat products, like bread or pasta.

“The most obvious question is also the most difficult to answer: How could gluten, present in a staple food that has sustained humanity for thousands of years, have suddenly become so threatening?”

Wheat is a staple and strategic crop across most of North Africa and West Asia, accounting for almost 40 percent of the region’s total food supply.

A popular dietary trend involves the elimination of wheat- and gluten-containing foods inspired in part by the book “Wheat Belly” written by cardiologist William Davis.

Over the last 50 years big increases in agricultural production have come through improved yields. Since 1990, wheat is the only major crop to experience an overall decline in area.

The expected average rate of warming over current wheat areas for the next few decades is a little less than 0.5 °C per decade, which implies a negative yield impact of about 2 percent per decade.

Wheat, being produced equally in developing and developed countries, is the top global source of calories and the top traded food grain, a position it is unlikely to lose.

Wheat productivity must first increase in developing countries, where yield gaps continue to be unacceptably high.

The history of wheat is the history of civilization.

Alex Renaud is a third-year graduate student pursuing a doctorate degree in plant breeding and genetics.