Synopsis

Dr. Alison Bentley, Program Director of the Global Wheat Program at CIMMYT, shares how her work in wheat breeding delivers more robust varieties that meet farmer and consumer needs around the world. She describes the process of pre-breeding, introducing advantageous commercial traits from native or wild type plant species to increase the genetic diversity critical for any successful plant breeding program.

In this episode, Bentley will discuss her work in wheat which spans three continents — Australia, Europe and North America. We’ll follow along as she describes visiting some of the earliest sites of human civilization near Turkey, where plant domestication began & searching for wild relatives of grains in Australian grasslands. Bentley also talks about her new role at CIMMYT and why she’s excited about its global, cross-disciplinary focus.