Wheat is the most widely grown crop worldwide providing 20% of all human calories. Demand for wheat is predicted to grow 60% by 2050, while climate trends will reduce productivity especially in less developed countries. Among abiotic stresses, heat and drought are the most widespread and it is imperative to build resilience into current wheat breeding. The CIMMYT-led International Wheat Improvement Network (IWIN) has been delivering superior wheat lines as international public goods since the 1950s. IWIN-related varieties provide additional value of $2-$3 billion annually to resource-poor farmers and consumers. However, to meet increased demand in the face of climate change will require urgent innovations in wheat breeding, made possible by recent advances in our fundamental understanding of temperature response mechanisms, remote sensing, genomics and bio-informatics. To capitalize on these state-of-theart approaches, CIMMYT has initiated the Heat and Drought Wheat Improvement Consortium (HeDWIC) based on stakeholder consultation. Strategic use of these new technologies combined with proven methods will be applied within 3 main activities of HeDWIC:

Applying molecular genetic tools, in conjunction with detailed physiological and molecular characterization of heat/drought adaptive mechanisms, to identify molecular networks, genes and markers that will improve wheat’s performance under diverse heat and drought scenarios. This area of work will be underpinned by the wheat genome sequence and access to other resources of the genomic era;

High throughput phenotyping -in realistic field environments- of the vast untapped reserve of wheat genetic resources for use in pre-breeding and gene discovery;

Augmenting conventional wheat improvement methods by incorporating understanding of molecular and physiological bases of stress-adaptive traits into breeding pipelines.

Proof of concept comes from a pilot project, where new lines were developed through close collaboration between wheat breeders and physiologists, resulting in improved varietal performance in heat stressed regions of Pakistan. These lines were bred to enhance specific physiological traits which until recently were too challenging to select for at a breeding scale – traits such as a more vigorous root system and the ability to accumulate and re-use reserve carbohydrates from the stem. To build on these successes, HeDWIC will coordinate globally dispersed skill sets and resource hubs spanning several disciplines, relying on wide consultation of experts to achieve commonly agreed goals. This will feed a pipeline of useful new diversity into the IWIN breeding effort with tools for translation into any breeding program.