Wheat

Wheat (Triticum spp.) is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East and Ethiopian Highlands, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2010 world production of wheat was 651 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize (844 million tons) and rice (672 million tons). In 2009, world production of wheat was 682 million tons, making it the second most-produced cereal after maize (817 million tons), and with rice as close third (679 million tons).

This grain is grown on more land area than any other commercial food. World trade in wheat is greater than for all other crops combined. Globally, wheat is the leading source of vegetable protein in human food, having a higher protein content than either maize (corn) or rice, the other major cereals. In terms of total production tonnages used for food, it is currently second to rice as the main human food crop and ahead of maize, after allowing for maize's more extensive use in animal feeds.

Wheat was a key factor enabling the emergence of city-based societies at the start of civilization because it was one of the first crops that could be easily cultivated on a large scale, and had the additional advantage of yielding a harvest that provides long-term storage of food. Wheat contributed to the emergence of city-states in the Fertile Crescent, including the Babylonian and Assyrian empires. Wheat grain is a staple food used to make flour for leavened, flat and steamed breads, biscuits, cookies, cakes, breakfast cereal, pasta, noodles, couscous and for fermentation to make beer, other alcoholic beverages, or biofuel.

Wheat is planted to a limited extent as a forage crop for livestock, and its straw can be used as a construction material for roofing thatch. The whole grain can be milled to leave just the endosperm for white flour. The by-products of this are bran and germ. The whole grain is a concentrated source of vitamins, minerals, and protein, while the refined grain is mostly starch.

History

Wheat is one of the first cereals known to have been domesticated, and wheat's ability to self-pollinate greatly facilitated the selection of many distinct domesticated varieties. The archaeological record suggests that this first occurred in the regions known as the Fertile Crescent, and the Nile Delta. Recent findings narrow the first domestication of wheat down to a small region of southeastern Turkey, and domesticated Einkorn wheat at Nevalı Çori, 40 mi (64 km) northwest of Gobekli Tepe in Turkey—has been dated to 9,000  BCE. However evidence for the exploitation of wild barley has been dated to 23,000 BCE and some say this is also true of pre-domesticated wheat.

Origin

Archaeological analysis of wild emmer indicates that it was first cultivated in the southern Levant with finds at Iraq ed-Dubb in northern Jordan dating back as far as 9600 BCE. Genetic analysis of wild einkorn wheat suggests that it was first grown in the Karacadag Mountains in southeastern Turkey. Dated archeological remains of einkorn wheat in settlement sites near this region, including those at Abu Hureyra in Syria, suggest the domestication of einkorn near the Karacadag Mountain Range. With the anomalous exception of two grains from Iraq ed-Dubb, the earliest carbon-14 date for einkorn wheat remains at Abu Hureyra is 7800 to 7500 years  BC. Remains of harvested emmer from several sites near the Karacadag Range have been dated to between 8600 (at Cayonu) and 8400 BCE (Abu Hureyra), that is, in the Neolithic period. With the exception of Iraq ed-Dubb, the earliest carbon-14 dated remains of domesticated emmer wheat were found in the earliest levels of Tell Aswad, in the Damascus basin, near Mount Hermon in Syria. These remains were dated by Willem van Zeist and his assistant Johanna Bakker-Heeres to 8800 BCE. They also concluded that the settlers of Tell Aswad did not develop this form of emmer themselves, but brought the domesticated grains with them from an as yet unidentified location elsewhere.

Cultivation and repeated harvesting and sowing of the grains of wild grasses led to the creation of domestic strains, as mutant forms ('sports') of wheat were preferentially chosen by farmers. In domesticated wheat, grains are larger, and the seeds (inside the spikelets) remain attached to the ear by a toughened rachis during harvesting. In wild strains, a more fragile rachis allows the ear to easily shatter and disperse the spikelets. Selection for these traits by farmers might not have been deliberately intended, but simply have occurred because these traits made gathering the seeds easier; nevertheless such 'incidental' selection was an important part of crop domestication. As the traits that improve wheat as a food source also involve the loss of the plant's natural seed dispersal mechanisms, highly domesticated strains of wheat cannot survive in the wild.

Cultivation of wheat began to spread beyond the Fertile Crescent after about 8000 BCE. Jared Diamond traces the spread of cultivated emmer wheat starting in the Fertile Crescent about 8500 BC, reaching Greece, Cyprus and India by 6500 BCE, Egypt shortly after 6000 BCE, and Germany and Spain by 5000 BCE. "The early Egyptians were developers of bread and the use of the oven and developed baking into one of the first large-scale food production industries." By 3000 BCE, wheat had reached England and Scandinavia. A millennium later it reached China. The first identifiable bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) with sufficient gluten for yeasted breads has been identified using DNA analysis in samples from a granary dating to approximately 1350 BCE at Assiros in Greek Macedonia.

Wheat continued to spread throughout Europe. In England, thatch was used for roofing in the Bronze Age, and was in common use until the late 19th century.

Farming techniques

Technological advances in soil preparation and seed placement at planting time, use of crop rotation and fertilizers to improve plant growth, and advances in harvesting methods have all combined to promote wheat as a viable crop. Agricultural cultivation using horse collar leveraged plows (at about 3000 BCE) was one of the first innovations that increased productivity. Much later, when the use of seed drills replaced broadcasting sowing of seed in the 18th century, another great increase in productivity occurred. Yields of wheat per unit area increased as methods of crop rotation were applied to long cultivated land, and the use of fertilizers became widespread. Improved agricultural husbandry has more recently included threshing machines and reaping machines (the 'combine harvester'), tractor-drawn cultivators and planters, and better varieties (see Green Revolution and Norin 10 wheat). Great expansion of wheat production occurred as new arable land was farmed in the Americas and Australia in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Genetics

Wheat genetics is more complicated than that of most other domesticated species. Some wheat species are diploid, with two sets of chromosomes, but many are stable polyploids, with four sets of chromosomes ( tetraploid) or six ( hexaploid).

• Einkorn wheat (T. monococcum) is diploid (AA, two complements of seven chromosomes, 2n=14).
• Most tetraploid wheats (e.g. emmer and durum wheat) are derived from wild emmer, T. dicoccoides. Wild emmer is itself the result of a hybridization between two diploid wild grasses, T. urartu and a wild goatgrass such as Aegilops searsii or Ae. speltoides. The unknown grass has never been identified among now surviving wild grasses, but the closest living relative is Aegilops speltoides. The hybridization that formed wild emmer (AABB) occurred in the wild, long before domestication, and was driven by natural selection.

• Hexaploid wheats evolved in farmers' fields. Either domesticated emmer or durum wheat hybridized with yet another wild diploid grass ( Aegilops tauschii) to make the hexaploid wheats, spelt wheat and bread wheat. These have three sets of paired chromosomes, three times as many as in diploid wheat.

The presence of certain versions of wheat genes has been important for crop yields. Apart from mutant versions of genes selected in antiquity during domestication, there has been more recent deliberate selection of alleles that affect growth characteristics. Genes for the 'dwarfing' trait, first used by Japanese wheat breeders to produce short-stalked wheat, have had a huge effect on wheat yields world-wide, and were major factors in the success of the Green Revolution in Mexico and Asia. Dwarfing genes enable the carbon that is fixed in the plant during photosynthesis to be diverted towards seed production, and they also help prevent the problem of lodging. 'Lodging' occurs when an ear stalk falls over in the wind and rots on the ground, and heavy nitrogenous fertilization of wheat makes the grass grow taller and become more susceptible to this problem. By 1997, 81% of the developing world's wheat area was planted to semi-dwarf wheats, giving both increased yields and better response to nitrogenous fertilizer.

Wild grasses in the genus Triticum and related genera, and grasses such as rye have been a source of many disease-resistance traits for cultivated wheat breeding since the 1930s.

Heterosis, or hybrid vigor (as in the familiar F1 hybrids of maize), occurs in common (hexaploid) wheat, but it is difficult to produce seed of hybrid cultivars on a commercial scale (as is done with maize) because wheat flowers are perfect and normally self-pollinate. Commercial hybrid wheat seed has been produced using chemical hybridizing agents; these chemicals selectively interfere with pollen development, or naturally occurring cytoplasmic male sterility systems. Hybrid wheat has been a limited commercial success in Europe (particularly France), the USA and South Africa. F1 hybrid wheat cultivars should not be confused with the standard method of breeding inbred wheat cultivars by crossing two lines using hand emasculation, then selfing or inbreeding the progeny many (ten or more) generations before release selections are identified to be released as a variety or cultivar.

Synthetic hexaploids made by crossing the wild goatgrass wheat ancestor Aegilops tauschii and various durum wheats are now being deployed, and these increase the genetic diversity of cultivated wheats.

Stomata (or leaf pores) are involved in both uptake of carbon dioxide gas from the atmosphere and water vapor losses from the leaf due to water transpiration. Basic physiological investigation of these gas exchange processes has yielded valuable carbon isotope based methods that are used for breeding wheat varieties with improved water-use efficiency. These varieties can improve crop productivity in rain-fed dry-land wheat farms.

In 2010, a team of UK scientists funded by BBSRC announced they had decoded the wheat genome for the first time (95% of the genome of a variety of wheat known as Chinese Spring line 42). This genome was released in a basic format for scientists and plant breeders to use but was not a fully annotated sequence which was reported in some of the media.

Plant breeding

In traditional agricultural systems wheat populations often consist of landraces, informal farmer-maintained populations that often maintain high levels of morphological diversity. Although landraces of wheat are no longer grown in Europe and North America, they continue to be important elsewhere. The origins of formal wheat breeding lie in the nineteenth century, when single line varieties were created through selection of seed from a single plant noted to have desired properties. Modern wheat breeding developed in the first years of the twentieth century and was closely linked to the development of Mendelian genetics. The standard method of breeding inbred wheat cultivars is by crossing two lines using hand emasculation, then selfing or inbreeding the progeny. Selections are identified (shown to have the genes responsible for the varietal differences) ten or more generations before release as a variety or cultivar.

F1 hybrid wheat cultivars should not be confused with wheat cultivars deriving from standard plant breeding. Heterosis or hybrid vigor (as in the familiar F1 hybrids of maize) occurs in common (hexaploid) wheat, but it is difficult to produce seed of hybrid cultivars on a commercial scale as is done with maize because wheat flowers are complete and normally self-pollinate. Commercial hybrid wheat seed has been produced using chemical hybridizing agents, plant growth regulators that selectively interfere with pollen development, or naturally occurring cytoplasmic male sterility systems. Hybrid wheat has been a limited commercial success in Europe (particularly France), the United States and South Africa.

The major breeding objectives include high grain yield, good quality, disease and insect resistance and tolerance to abiotic stresses include mineral, moisture and heat tolerance. The major diseases in temperate environments include the following, arranged in a rough order of their significance from cooler to warmer climates: eyespot, Stagonospora nodorum blotch (also known as glume blotch), yellow or stripe rust, powdery mildew, Septoria tritici blotch (sometimes known as leaf blotch), brown or leaf rust, Fusarium head blight, tan spot and stem rust. In tropical areas, spot blotch (also known as Helminthosporium leaf blight) is also important.

Hulled versus free-threshing wheat

The four wild species of wheat, along with the domesticated varieties einkorn, emmer and spelt, have hulls. This more primitive morphology (in evolutionary terms) consists of toughened glumes that tightly enclose the grains, and (in domesticated wheats) a semi-brittle rachis that breaks easily on threshing. The result is that when threshed, the wheat ear breaks up into spikelets. To obtain the grain, further processing, such as milling or pounding, is needed to remove the hulls or husks. In contrast, in free-threshing (or naked) forms such as durum wheat and common wheat, the glumes are fragile and the rachis tough. On threshing, the chaff breaks up, releasing the grains. Hulled wheats are often stored as spikelets because the toughened glumes give good protection against pests of stored grain.

Naming

There are many botanical classification systems used for wheat species, discussed in a separate article on Wheat taxonomy. The name of a wheat species from one information source may not be the name of a wheat species in another.

Within a species, wheat cultivars are further classified by wheat breeders and farmers in terms of:

• Growing season, such as winter wheat vs. spring wheat.
• Protein content. Bread wheat protein content ranges from 10% in some soft wheats with high starch contents, to 15% in hard wheats.
• The quality of the wheat protein gluten. This protein can determine the suitability of a wheat to a particular dish. A strong and elastic gluten present in bread wheats enables dough to trap carbon dioxide during leavening, but elastic gluten interferes with the rolling of pasta into thin sheets. The gluten protein in durum wheats used for pasta is strong but not elastic.
• Grain color (red, white or amber). Many wheat varieties are reddish-brown due to phenolic compounds present in the bran layer which are transformed to pigments by browning enzymes. White wheats have a lower content of phenolics and browning enzymes, and are generally less astringent in taste than red wheats. The yellowish colour of durum wheat and semolina flour made from it is due to a carotenoid pigment called lutein, which can be oxidized to a colorless form by enzymes present in the grain.

Major cultivated species of wheat

Hexaploid Species

• Common wheat or Bread wheat (T. aestivum) – A hexaploid species that is the most widely cultivated in the world.
• Spelt (T. spelta) – Another hexaploid species cultivated in limited quantities. Spelt is sometimes considered a subspecies of the closely related species common wheat (T. aestivum), in which case its botanical name is considered to be Triticum aestivum subsp. spelta.

Tetraploid Species

• Durum (T. durum) – The only tetraploid form of wheat widely used today, and the second most widely cultivated wheat.
• Emmer (T. dicoccum) – A tetraploid species, cultivated in ancient times but no longer in widespread use.

Diploid Species

• Einkorn (T. monococcum) – A diploid species with wild and cultivated variants. Domesticated at the same time as emmer wheat, but never reached the same importance.

Classes used in the United States:

• Durum – Very hard, translucent, light-colored grain used to make semolina flour for pasta & bulghur; high in protein, specifically, gluten protein.
• Hard Red Spring – Hard, brownish, high-protein wheat used for bread and hard baked goods. Bread Flour and high-gluten flours are commonly made from hard red spring wheat. It is primarily traded at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange.
• Hard Red Winter – Hard, brownish, mellow high-protein wheat used for bread, hard baked goods and as an adjunct in other flours to increase protein in pastry flour for pie crusts. Some brands of unbleached all-purpose flours are commonly made from hard red winter wheat alone. It is primarily traded on the Kansas City Board of Trade. One variety is known as "turkey red wheat", and was brought to Kansas by Mennonite immigrants from Russia.
• Soft Red Winter – Soft, low-protein wheat used for cakes, pie crusts, biscuits, and muffins. Cake flour, pastry flour, and some self-rising flours with baking powder and salt added, for example, are made from soft red winter wheat. It is primarily traded on the Chicago Board of Trade.
• Hard White – Hard, light-colored, opaque, chalky, medium-protein wheat planted in dry, temperate areas. Used for bread and brewing.
• Soft White – Soft, light-colored, very low protein wheat grown in temperate moist areas. Used for pie crusts and pastry. Pastry flour, for example, is sometimes made from soft white winter wheat.

Red wheats may need bleaching; therefore, white wheats usually command higher prices than red wheats on the commodities market.

As a food

Wheat germ crude (not whole grain)

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy	1,506 kJ (360 kcal)
Carbohydrates	51.8 g
- Dietary fibre	13.2 g
Fat	9.72 g
Protein	23.15 g
Thiamine (vit. B1)	1.882 mg (164%)
Riboflavin (vit. B2)	0.499 mg (42%)
Niacin (vit. B3)	6.813 mg (45%)
Pantothenic acid (B5)	0.05 mg (1%)
Vitamin B6	1.3 mg (100%)
Folate (vit. B9)	281 μg (70%)
Calcium	39 mg (4%)
Iron	6.26 mg (48%)
Magnesium	239 mg (67%)
Phosphorus	842 mg (120%)
Potassium	892 mg (19%)
Zinc	12.29 mg (129%)
Manganese 13.301 mg
Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. Source: USDA Nutrient Database

Raw wheat can be ground into flour or, using hard durum wheat only, can be ground into semolina; germinated and dried creating malt; crushed or cut into cracked wheat; parboiled (or steamed), dried, crushed and de-branned into bulgur also known as groats. If the raw wheat is broken into parts at the mill, as is usually done, the outer husk or bran can be used several ways. Wheat is a major ingredient in such foods as bread, porridge, crackers, biscuits, Muesli, pancakes, pies, pastries, cakes, cookies, muffins, rolls, doughnuts, gravy, boza (a fermented beverage), and breakfast cereals (e.g., Wheatena, Cream of Wheat, Shredded Wheat, and Wheaties).

Nutrition

100 g (3.5 oz) of hard red winter wheat contain about 12.6 g (0.44 oz) of protein, 1.5 g (0.053 oz) of total fat, 71 g (2.5 oz) of carbohydrate (by difference), 12.2 g (0.43 oz) of dietary fibre, and 3.2 mg (0.00011 oz) of iron (17% of the daily requirement); the same weight of hard red spring wheat contains about 15.4 g (0.54 oz) of protein, 1.9 g (0.067 oz) of total fat, 68 g (2.4 oz) of carbohydrate (by difference), 12.2 g (0.43 oz) of dietary fibre, and 3.6 mg (0.00013 oz)of iron (20% of the daily requirement).

Much of the carbohydrate fraction of wheat is starch. Wheat starch is an important commercial product of wheat, but second in economic value to wheat gluten. The principal parts of wheat flour are gluten and starch. These can be separated in a kind of home experiment, by mixing flour and water to form a small ball of dough, and kneading it gently while rinsing it in a bowl of water. The starch falls out of the dough and sinks to the bottom of the bowl, leaving behind a ball of gluten.

In wheat, phenolic compounds are mainly found in the form of insoluble bound ferulic acid and be relevant to resistance to wheat fungal diseases. Alkylresorcinols are phenolic lipids present in high amounts in the bran layer (e.g. pericarp, testa and aleurone layers) of wheat and rye (0.1-0.3 % of dry weight).

Nutritional importance of wheat

Wheat is grown on more than 240,000,000 hectares (590,000,000  acres), larger than for any other crop. World trade in wheat is greater than for all other crops combined. With rice, wheat is the world's most favored staple food. Wheat provides more nourishment for humans than any other food source. It is a major diet component because of the wheat plant’s agronomic adaptability with the ability to grow from near arctic regions to equator, from sea level to plains of Tibet, approximately 4,000 m (13,000 ft) above sea level. In addition to agronomic adaptability, wheat offers ease of grain storage and ease of converting grain into flour for making edible, palatable, interesting and satisfying foods. Wheat is the most important source of carbohydrate in a majority of countries.

Wheat protein is easily digested by nearly 99% of human population (see gluten sensitivity for exception), as is its starch. Wheat also contains a diversity of minerals, vitamins and fats (lipids). With a small amount of animal or legume protein added, a wheat-based meal is highly nutritious.

The most common forms of wheat are white and red wheat. However, other natural forms of wheat exist. For example, in the highlands of Ethiopia grows purple wheat, a tetraploid species of wheat that is rich in anti-oxidants. Other commercially minor but nutritionally promising species of naturally evolved wheat species include black, yellow and blue wheat.

Health concerns

Several screening studies in Europe, South America, Australasia, and the USA suggest that approximately 0.5–1% of these populations may have undetected coeliac disease. Coeliac (also written as celiac) disease is a condition that is caused by an adverse immune system reaction to gliadin, a gluten protein found in wheat (and similar proteins of the tribe Triticeae which includes other species such as barley and rye). Upon exposure to gliadin, the enzyme tissue transglutaminase modifies the protein, and the immune system cross-reacts with the bowel tissue, causing an inflammatory reaction. That leads to flattening of the lining of the small intestine, which interferes with the absorption of nutrients. The only effective treatment is a lifelong gluten-free diet.

The estimate for people in the United States is between 0.5 and 1.0 percent of the population.

While the disease is caused by a reaction to wheat proteins, it is not the same as wheat allergy.

Comparison of wheat with other major staple foods

The following table shows the nutrient content of wheat and other major staple foods in a raw form.

Raw forms of these staples, however, are not edible and cannot be digested. These must be sprouted, or prepared and cooked as appropriate for human consumption. In sprouted or cooked form, the relative nutritional and anti-nutritional contents of each of these grains is remarkably different from that of raw form of these grains reported in this table.

In cooked form, the nutrition value for each staple depends on the cooking method (for example: baking, boiling, steaming, frying, etc.).

Nutrient content of major staple foods

STAPLE:	Maize / Corn	Rice	Wheat	Potato	Cassava	Soybean (Green)	Sweet potato	Sorghum	Yam	Plantain
Component (per 100g portion)	Amount	Amount	Amount	Amount	Amount	Amount	Amount	Amount	Amount	Amount
Water (g)	76	12	11	79	60	68	77	9	70	65
Energy (kJ)	360	1528	1419	322	670	615	360	1419	494	511
Protein (g)	3.2	7.1	13.7	2.0	1.4	13.0	1.6	11.3	1.5	1.3
Fat (g)	1.18	0.66	2.47	0.09	0.28	6.8	0.05	3.3	0.17	0.37
Carbohydrates (g)	19	80	71	17	38	11	20	75	28	32
Fibre (g)	2.7	1.3	10.7	2.2	1.8	4.2	3	6.3	4.1	2.3
Sugar (g)	3.22	0.12	0	0.78	1.7	0	4.18	0	0.5	15
Calcium (mg)	2	28	34	12	16	197	30	28	17	3
Iron (mg)	0.52	4.31	3.52	0.78	0.27	3.55	0.61	4.4	0.54	0.6
Magnesium (mg)	37	25	144	23	21	65	25	0	21	37
Phosphorus (mg)	89	115	508	57	27	194	47	287	55	34
Potassium (mg)	270	115	431	421	271	620	337	350	816	499
Sodium (mg)	15	5	2	6	14	15	55	6	9	4
Zinc (mg)	0.45	1.09	4.16	0.29	0.34	0.99	0.3	0	0.24	0.14
Copper (mg)	0.05	0.22	0.55	0.11	0.10	0.13	0.15	-	0.18	0.08
Manganese (mg)	0.16	1.09	3.01	0.15	0.38	0.55	0.26	-	0.40	-
Selenium (mcg)	0.6	15.1	89.4	0.3	0.7	1.5	0.6	0	0.7	1.5
Vitamin C (mg)	6.8	0	0	19.7	20.6	29	2.4	0	17.1	18.4
Thiamin (mg)	0.20	0.58	0.42	0.08	0.09	0.44	0.08	0.24	0.11	0.05
Riboflavin (mg)	0.06	0.05	0.12	0.03	0.05	0.18	0.06	0.14	0.03	0.05
Niacin (mg)	1.70	4.19	6.74	1.05	0.85	1.65	0.56	2.93	0.55	0.69
Pantothenic acid (mg)	0.76	1.01	0.94	0.30	0.11	0.15	0.80	-	0.31	0.26
Vitamin B6 (mg)	0.06	0.16	0.42	0.30	0.09	0.07	0.21	-	0.29	0.30
Folate Total (mcg)	46	231	43	16	27	165	11	0	23	22
Vitamin A (IU)	208	0	0	2	13	180	14187	0	138	1127
Vitamin E, alpha-tocopherol (mg)	0.07	0.11	0	0.01	0.19	0	0.26	0	0.39	0.14
Vitamin K (mcg)	0.3	0.1	0	1.9	1.9	0	1.8	0	2.6	0.7
Beta-carotene (mcg)	52	0	0	1	8	0	8509	0	83	457
Lutein+ zeazanthin (mcg)	764	0	0	8	0	0	0	0	0	30
Saturated fatty acids (g)	0.18	0.18	0.45	0.03	0.07	0.79	0.02	0.46	0.04	0.14
Monounsaturated fatty acids (g)	0.35	0.21	0.34	0.00	0.08	1.28	0.00	0.99	0.01	0.03
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (g)	0.56	0.18	0.98	0.04	0.05	3.20	0.01	1.37	0.08	0.07

A corn, sweet, yellow, raw									B rice, white, long-grain, regular, raw
C wheat, durum									D potato, flesh and skin, raw
E cassava, raw									F soybeans, green, raw
G sweet potato, raw, unprepared									H sorghum, raw
Y yam, raw									Z plantains, raw

Commercial use

Harvested wheat grain that enters trade is classified according to grain properties for the purposes of the commodities market. Wheat buyers use these to decide which wheat to buy, as each class has special uses, and producers use them to decide which classes of wheat will be most profitable to cultivate.

Wheat is widely cultivated as a cash crop because it produces a good yield per unit area, grows well in a temperate climate even with a moderately short growing season, and yields a versatile, high-quality flour that is widely used in baking. Most breads are made with wheat flour, including many breads named for the other grains they contain like most rye and oat breads. The popularity of foods made from wheat flour creates a large demand for the grain, even in economies with significant food surpluses.

In recent years, low international wheat prices have often encouraged farmers in the USA to change to more profitable crops. In 1998, the price at harvest was $2.68 per bushel. A USDA report revealed that in 1998, average operating costs were $1.43 per bushel and total costs were $3.97 per bushel. In that study, farm wheat yields averaged 41.7 bushels per acre (2.2435 metric ton/hectare), and typical total wheat production value was $31,900 per farm, with total farm production value (including other crops) of $173,681 per farm, plus $17,402 in government payments. There were significant profitability differences between low- and high-cost farms, mainly due to crop yield differences, location, and farm size.

In 2007 there was a dramatic rise in the price of wheat due to freezes and flooding in the northern hemisphere and a drought in Australia. Wheat futures in September, 2007 for December and March delivery had risen above $9.00 a bushel, prices never seen before. There were complaints in Italy about the high price of pasta.

Other drivers affecting wheat prices include the movement to bio fuels and rising incomes in developing countries, which is causing a shift in eating patterns from predominantly rice to more meat based diets (a rise in meat production equals a rise in grain consumption—seven kilograms of grain is required to produce one kilogram of beef).

Production and consumption

In 2003, global per capita wheat consumption was 67 kg (150 lb), with the highest per capita consumption of 239 kg (530 lb) found in Kyrgyzstan. In 1997, global wheat consumption was 101 kg (220 lb) per capita, with the highest consumption 623 kg (1,370 lb) per capita in Denmark, but most of this (81%) was for animal feed. Wheat is the primary food staple in North Africa and the Middle East, and is growing in popularity in Asia. Unlike rice, wheat production is more widespread globally though China's share is almost one-sixth of the world.

"There is a little increase in yearly crop yield comparison to the year 1990. The reason for this is not in development of sowing area, but the slow and successive increasing of the average yield. Average 2.5 tons wheat was produced on one hectare crop land in the world in the first half of 1990s, however this value was about 3 tons in 2009. In the world per capita wheat producing area continuously decreased between 1990 and 2009 considering the change of world population. There was no significant change in wheat producing area in this period. However due to the improvement of average yields there is some fluctuation in each year considering the per capita production, but there is no considerable decline. In 1990 per capita production was 111.98 kg/capita/year, while it was already 100.62 kg/capita/year in 2009. The decline is evident and the per capita production level of the year 1990 can not be feasible simultaneously with the growth of world population in spite of the increased average yields. In the whole period the lowest per capita production was in 2006."

In the 20th century, global wheat output expanded by about 5-fold, but until about 1955 most of this reflected increases in wheat crop area, with lesser (about 20%) increases in crop yields per unit area. After 1955 however, there was a dramatic ten-fold increase in the rate of wheat yield improvement per year, and this became the major factor allowing global wheat production to increase. Thus technological innovation and scientific crop management with synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, irrigation and wheat breeding were the main drivers of wheat output growth in the second half of the century. There were some significant decreases in wheat crop area, for instance in North America.

Better seed storage and germination ability (and hence a smaller requirement to retain harvested crop for next year's seed) is another 20th century technological innovation. In Medieval England, farmers saved one-quarter of their wheat harvest as seed for the next crop, leaving only three-quarters for food and feed consumption. By 1999, the global average seed use of wheat was about 6% of output.

Several factors are currently slowing the rate of global expansion of wheat production: population growth rates are falling while wheat yields continue to rise, and the better economic profitability of other crops such as soybeans and maize, linked with investment in modern genetic technologies, has promoted shifts to other crops.

"However, the ever growing world population will certainly make it necessary to increase wheat production, especially if meet consumption grows in the developing countries, too. The reason for the latter is that to produce more meat more fodder is needed, and as a consequence wheat self-sufficiency level of the countries will go under changes. If the human society once reaches such a high level of civilization that ensuring the well-being of few people does not endanger the life of others, then intensification of wheat production and hence establishing food security become an utmost important issue for everybody. And even if the current level of consumption is theoretically sustainable, there is another serious problem that we have to face: today people are dying of hunger in the world even apart from this problem. If we go beyond looking at the average consumption level on the global scale, we will face immense differences among the level of consumption in the different regions of the globe. There is a well known howling discrepancy between the developed and the developing world: namely, there is excess and at the same time wasting of food in the so-called modern societies, and on the other hand lack or undersupply of food in the poorer countries. People are suffering from overweight and its consequent illnesses in the developed world and on the other part of the world people are suffering from lack of food, from undernourishment and its consequent illnesses."

Farming systems

In the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, as well as North China, irrigation has been a major contributor to increased grain output. More widely over the last 40 years, a massive increase in fertilizer use together with the increased availability of semi-dwarf varieties in developing countries, has greatly increased yields per hectare. In developing countries, use of (mainly nitrogenous) fertilizer increased 25-fold in this period. However, farming systems rely on much more than fertilizer and breeding to improve productivity. A good illustration of this is Australian wheat growing in the southern winter cropping zone, where, despite low rainfall (300 mm), wheat cropping is successful even with relatively little use of nitrogenous fertilizer. This is achieved by 'rotation cropping' (traditionally called the ley system) with leguminous pastures and, in the last decade, including a canola crop in the rotations has boosted wheat yields by a further 25%. In these low rainfall areas, better use of available soil-water (and better control of soil erosion) is achieved by retaining the stubble after harvesting and by minimizing tillage.

In 2009, the most productive farms for wheat were in France producing 7.45 metric tonnes per hectare. The five largest producers of wheat in 2009 were China (115 million metric tonnes), India (81 MMT), Russian Federation (62 MMT), United States (60 MMT) and France (38 MMT). The wheat farm productivity in India and Russia were about 35% of the wheat farm productivity in France. China's farm productivity for wheat, in 2009, was about double that of Russia. If India and Russia could adopt the farming knowledge and technology of France, the world production of wheat would be 40% higher with a farming area same as the area farmed for wheat in 2009.

In addition to gap in farming system technology and knowledge, some large wheat grain producing countries have significant losses after harvest at the farm and because of poor roads, inadequate storage technologies, inefficient supply chains and farmer's inability to bring the produce into retail markets dominated by small shopkeepers. Various studies in India, for example, have concluded that about 10% of total wheat production is lost at farm level, another 10% is lost because of poor storage and road networks, and additional amounts lost at retail level. One study claims that if these post-harvest wheat grain losses could be eliminated with better infrastructure and retail network, in India alone enough food would be saved every year to feed 70 to 100 million people over a year.

Futures contracts

Wheat futures are traded on the Chicago Board of Trade, Kansas City Board of Trade, and Minneapolis Grain Exchange, and have delivery dates in March (H), May (K), July (N), September (U), and December (Z).

Top ten wheat producers — 2010 (million metric ton)
People's Republic of China	115
India	81
United States	60
Russia	42
France	38
Germany	24
Pakistan	23
Canada	23
Australia	22
Turkey	19
World total	651
Source: UN Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO)

Geographical variation

There are substantial differences in wheat farming, trading, policy, sector growth, and wheat uses in different regions of the world. In the EU and Canada for instance, there is significant addition of wheat to animal feeds, but less so in the USA.

The biggest wheat producer in 2010 was EU-27, followed by China, India, USA and Russian Federation.

The largest exporters of wheat in 2009 were, in order of exported quantities: United States, EU-27, Canada, Russian Federation, Australia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Upon the results of 2011, Ukraine became world's sixth wheat exporter as well. The largest importers of wheat in 2009 were, in order of imported quantities: Egypt, EU-27, Brazil, Indonesia, Algeria and Japan. EU-27 was on both export and import list, because EU countries such as Italy and Spain imported wheat, while other EU-27 countries exported their harvest. The Black Sea region – which includes Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine – is amongst the most promising area for grain exporters; it possess significant production potential in terms of both wheat yield and area increases. Black sea region is also located close to the traditional grain importers in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.

In the rapidly developing countries of Asia, westernization of diets associated with increasing prosperity is leading to growth in per capita demand for wheat at the expense of the other food staples.

In the past, there has been significant governmental intervention in wheat markets, such as price supports in the USA and farm payments in the EU. In the EU these subsidies have encouraged heavy use of fertilizer inputs with resulting high crop yields. In Australia and Argentina direct government subsidies are much lower.

World's most productive wheat farms and farmers

The average world farm yield for wheat was 3.1 tonnes per hectare, in 2010.

Dutch wheat farms were the most productive in 2010, with a nationwide average of 8.9 tonnes per hectare. Belgium was a close second.

Various regions of the world hold wheat production yield contests every year. Yields above 12 tonnes per hectare are routinely achieved in many parts of the world. Chris Dennison of Oamaru, New Zealand, set a world record for wheat yield in 2003 at 15.015 tonnes per hectare (223 bushels/acre). In 2010, this record was surpassed by another New Zealand farmer, Michael Solari, with 15.636 tonnes per hectare (232.64 bushels/acre) at Otama, Gore.

Agronomy

Crop development

Wheat normally needs between 110 and 130 days between sowing and harvest, depending upon climate, seed type, and soil conditions (winter wheat lies dormant during a winter freeze). Optimal crop management requires that the farmer have a detailed understanding of each stage of development in the growing plants. In particular, spring fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, growth regulators are typically applied only at specific stages of plant development. For example, it is currently recommended that the second application of nitrogen is best done when the ear (not visible at this stage) is about 1 cm in size (Z31 on Zadoks scale). Knowledge of stages is also important to identify periods of higher risk from the climate. For example, pollen formation from the mother cell, and the stages between anthesis and maturity are susceptible to high temperatures, and this adverse effect is made worse by water stress. Farmers also benefit from knowing when the 'flag leaf' (last leaf) appears, as this leaf represents about 75% of photosynthesis reactions during the grain filling period, and so should be preserved from disease or insect attacks to ensure a good yield.

Several systems exist to identify crop stages, with the Feekes and Zadoks scales being the most widely used. Each scale is a standard system which describes successive stages reached by the crop during the agricultural season.

Diseases

There are many wheat diseases, mainly caused by fungi, bacteria, and viruses. Plant breeding to develop new disease-resistant varieties, and sound crop management practices are important for preventing disease. Fungicides, used to prevent the significant crop losses from fungal disease, can be a significant variable cost in wheat production. Estimates of the amount of wheat production lost owing to plant diseases vary between 10–25% in Missouri. A wide range of organisms infect wheat, of which the most important are viruses and fungi.

The main wheat-disease categories are:

• Seed-borne diseases: these include seed-borne scab, seed-borne Stagonospora (previously known as Septoria), common bunt (stinking smut), and loose smut. These are managed with fungicides.
• Leaf- and head- blight diseases: Powdery mildew, leaf rust, Septoria tritici leaf blotch, Stagonospora (Septoria) nodorum leaf and glume blotch, and Fusarium head scab.
• Crown and root rot diseases: Two of the more important of these are ' take-all' and Cephalosporium stripe. Both of these diseases are soil borne.
• Viral diseases: Wheat spindle streak mosaic (yellow mosaic) and barley yellow dwarf are the two most common viral diseases. Control can be achieved by using resistant varieties.

Pests

Wheat is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera ( butterfly and moth) species including The Flame, Rustic Shoulder-knot, Setaceous Hebrew Character and Turnip Moth. Early in the season, many species of birds, including the Long-tailed Widowbird, and rodents feed upon wheat crops. These animals can cause significant damage to a crop by digging up and eating newly planted seeds or young plants. They can also damage the crop late in the season by eating the grain from the mature spike. Recent post-harvest losses in cereals amount to billions of dollars per year in the USA alone, and damage to wheat by various borers, beetles and weevils is no exception. Rodents can also cause major losses during storage, and in major grain growing regions, field mice numbers can sometimes build up explosively to plague proportions because of the ready availability of food. To reduce the amount of wheat lost to post-harvest pests, Agricultural Research Service scientists have developed an "insect-o-graph," which can detect insects in wheat that are not visible to the naked eye. The device uses electrical signals to detect the insects as the wheat is being milled. The new technology is so precise that it can detect 5-10 infested seeds out of 300,000 good ones. Tracking insect infestations in stored grain is critical for food safety as well as for the marketing value of the crop.