Wheat is one of the key cereal crops grown worldwide, providing primary caloric and nutritional source for millions of people. In order to ensure food security there is a need for mitigation strategies and policies for management of food shortages, in addition, timely and accurate estimates of global crop production are essential. The climatic conditions of the Israeli fields, typical Mediterranean regions, are highly variable. These conditions cause substantial variability in hard spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grain production and quality, a matter of great concern for both producers and bakers. In recent years, growers, millers and bakers have needed to address quantity and quality fluctuation as a major issue.

The objectives of the Israeli Wheat Project are: (i) to characterize temperature effect on Israeli cultivar phenological development, grain filling and flour quality; (ii) to develop a biophysical model to estimate crop actual evapotranspiration, root-zone soil water content and yield forecast using proximal sensing and meteorological data; (iii) to characterize each field for temperature and productivity based on multispectral information from satellites; (iv) to assess the O3 induced physiological alteration at different phenological stages; (v) to develop a decision support system on a farm-regionalnational scale based on GXE interaction. The cultivars that were chosen for the project panel and field evaluation were bred in Israel for local growth conditions. Although cultivars were found to be genetically similar (based on 90ki SNP genotyping), they showed variation in their agronomic and physiological properties in accordance to growth conditions. This variation enables adaptation for each field the best cultivar and management. The outcomes of the Israeli Wheat Project can be applied, after evaluation, in other regions under different climatic and environmental conditions. Thereby, improving grain yield and quality production under unstable climate conditions.