The world population is predicted to reach 10 billion by 2050 and the demand for wheat, a staple food in the human diet, is anticipated to increase by 60%. Thus, plant scientists and breeders around the world are seeking innovative ways to rapidly improve the productivity of wheat crops in the face of a changing climate. A promising component for genetic improvement is the root system, the plant’s “hidden half”, which is fundamental for nutrient and water uptake. In comparison to above-ground characteristics, the below-ground component has been largely ignored in modern wheat improvement programs. This is mainly because roots are difficult to phenotype which ultimately constrains direct selection for desirable root traits in breeding programs. To facilitate rapid manipulation of wheat root systems, we are developing an innovative screening and selection pipeline incorporating the rapid generation advance technology ‘speed breeding’. The approach integrates marker-assisted selection for key QTL and non-destructive sequential phenotypic screening for multiple root traits during plant growth whereby plants displaying desirable root architecture and biomass can be tracked, selected and crossed within the same plant generation. The flexible selection tool can be applied to large segregating populations and speed breeding enables up to six generations of screening and crossing per year. We are adopting this approach in a new International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP) project to accelerate the development of elite wheat lines with modified root traits. Those lines will be tested in diverse target environments and under different management practices around the world to determine the value of different root ideotypes for plant performance. This insight, along with phenotyping and molecular tools will empower breeders to optimise the below- and above-ground plant components to improve future wheat crops in the face of increasing environmental fluctuations.