On average, CIMMYT develops and deploys annually around 35 new bread and durum wheat varieties in different countries. These varieties have a high level of tolerance to major biotic and abiotic stresses and excellent grain quality. Tolerance to heat stress, both early and terminal, is a major trait in most of these varieties. Wheat is also a major source and an ideal vehicle for delivering increased quantities of zinc, iron and other valuable bioactive compounds to populations that consume it as a staple food. By mainstreaming zinc, CIMMYT’s wheat breeding program will achieve enhanced zinc (and iron) content in 75 to 80 percent of elite wheat lines within the next 10 years. Future challenges include accelerating and maintaining parallel rates of genetic gain for productivity under increasing global warming and dwindling water resources, and reversing the trend of declining nutrients in wheat that has been exacerbated by climate change.