The Chairs of the Wheat Initiative Expert Working Group on Wheat Quaity Present:

This meeting will provide an opportunity to learn about the research activities of new members and to update all participants on the overall status and recent success stories of the Wheat Initiative. We will review progress in the Wheat Classification Systems activity and foster new bilateral and multilateral collaborations through short presentations from each research group. In addition, we will discuss potential activities for the coming months within our EWG, including webinars, workshops on specific topics, and other collaborative initiatives.

The Wheat Initiative Expert Working Group on Global Wheat Germplasm Conservation and Use presents:

Wheat Germplasm Conservation & Utilization: Challenges and Opportunities

• This interactive workshop will provide a platform for researchers to share and discuss current advancements in wheat germplasm conservation and utilization.

• Participants will explore key challenges, emerging opportunities, and innovative approaches that can strengthen global wheat improvement efforts.

• The workshop aims to foster collaboration, encourage knowledge exchange, and build stronger scientific networks within the wheat research community. 

Preliminary agenda:

Participants attending the 4th International Wheat Congress actively working on wheat germplasm, you are invited to join and present their research during the workshop. Given the limited number of seats, interested researchers are encouraged to confirm their participation as early as possible by emailing germplasm.chairs@gmail.com.  Selected participants will have the opportunity to showcase their research through oral presentations and engage in focused discussion.

Are you interested in Wheat Germplasm? Join the Expert Working Group on Global Wheat Germplasm Conservation and Use

Our Assosiated Programme the Alliance for Wheat Adaptation to Heat and Drought presents:

6th Annual AHEAD Workshop at 4th International Wheat Congress, Bologna, Italy

During this workshop, we would like to use the collective expertise of international experts to discuss breeding strategies for adapting wheat to heat and drought, and to collect information on the requirements for germplasm exchange of resilient varieties. As discussions about these topics have been raised in the AHEAD Network and the WI EWGs, we would like to jointly discuss about them, inform ourselves about our activities on these topics, and perhaps plan future joint discussions or activities. There will be an opportunity to hold interactive discussions in mixed groups during the breakout session at the end of this workshop. We are looking forward to implement the outcomes of these discussions in our future activities.

6th Annual AHEAD Workshop - 2026 Agenda: Session Topics (Speakers)

Are you interested in AHEAD have look at opportunites to join: https://www.ahead-wheat.org/

The Wheat Initiative Expert Working Group on Wheat Breeding Methods and Strategies presents:

Current Trends and Challenges in Wheat Breeding

The EWG meeting will host speakers highlighting current research trends in wheat breeding, such as the integration of AI into breeding schemes. We will also reserve time to discuss how our EWG can be of service in supporting our early career members.  

If you are interested in being part of the EExpert Working Group on Wheat Breeding Methods and Strategies join here: https://www.wheatinitiative.org/ewg-breeding

The Wheat Initiative Expert Working Group on Control of Wheat Pests presents:

Wheat Pests Workshop

The workshop will give an update on preliminary findings of a global wheat pest survey conducted by the Pests EWG. The workshop aims to encourage collaboration, knowledge exchange, and networking within the wheat pest community.  Members of the Pests EWG, as well as participants attending the 4th International Wheat Congress working on wheat pests, are also invited to join and present their research during the workshop. Interested researchers are encouraged to confirm their participation as early as possible, including if they wish to present a short oral presentation. 

Preliminary Agenda:

13:30-13.45: Introduction to the meeting and participants

13:45-14.05: Dr Daniel Leybourne (AFBI, Belfast, NI) Working towards more sustainable management of Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus

14:05-14.25: Dr Tom Pope (Harper Adams, UK) TBC

14:25-15.00: Dr Louise Mc Namara Preliminary Results of Global Wheat Pest Survey

15:30-16.00: Round table discussion on Global Wheat Pest Survey. Topic One: Germplasm testing and resistance breeding

15:30-16.00: Tea break

16.00-16.30: Round table discussion on Global Wheat Pest Survey. Topic Two: Agri-ecological control for wheat pest management.

16.30-17.00: Closing remarks and AOB

If you are interested in being part of the wheat pest working group download an application here: https://www.wheatinitiative.org/ewg-pests

The Wheat Initiative Expert Working Group on Wheat Phenotyping presents:

Actual scenario and perspectives for wheat phenotyping

Wheat Initiative EWG Phenotyping workshop

Actual scenario and perspectives for wheat phenotyping

Sunday May 24, 09:00-12:30

This workshop, part of the Annual Meeting of the EWG on Wheat Phenotyping (Wheat Initiative), will showcase actual, current advances and future directions in wheat phenotyping, bringing together early-career and senior researchers.

The session will highlight emerging approaches—such as AI-driven analysis, UAV-based spectral phenomics, and high-throughput methods—and how their integration with genetic, physiological, and multi-environment data is improving crop understanding and breeding decisions. It will also foster discussion on future EWG priorities.

Overall, the workshop aims to promote exchange and collaboration toward next-generation phenotyping for wheat improvement.

If you are interested in being part of the Expert Working Group? Join here: https://www.wheatinitiative.org/ewg-phenotyping

Durum for the future farmer and value chain

The Meeting of the Expert Working Group on Durum Wheat Genomics and Breeding aims to assess the progress over the last 30 years and develop a roadmap for the future.

The meeting will design the ideal durum wheat variety for future climatic scenarios and value chain requirements through an open discussion on heat and drought tolerance and how it can help the crops’ value chains.

All EWG members are invited to share their experience of selecting novel, more resilient varieties that fulfil the requirements of their value chains.

Updates on ongoing activities, such as FHB ring trials and GDP phenotyping, will also be presented.

Are you interested? Join our Expert Working Group on Durum Wheat Genomics and Breeding

Our Expert Working Group on Wheat Agronomy presents:

Restoring agronomy’s role in wheat production systems

How do we explicitly restore agronomy as the science that connects G×E×M×S, rather than leaving it as just “the M”? What structural or cultural shifts are needed within research systems? And how do we better connect efforts globally, building capacity in agronomy.

Kenton Poker and Romulo Lollato will provide a brief presentation with an overview of the Agronomy EWG recent developments and activities, as well as discuss future directions and planned activities. The remaining meeting, discussing the role of agronomy in wheat production systems, will follow a roundtable discussion format rather than presentations, which will help the group plan future strategies for the WI agronomy EWG.

Are you interested? Join our Expert Working Group on Wheat Agronomy https://www.wheatinitiative.org/ewg-agronomy

Chairs: Romulo Lollato and Kenton Porker

The Wheat Initiative Expert Working Group on the Adaptation of Wheat to Abiotic Stress presents:

Methods to Understand Combined Abiotic Stresses

Aenda:

9.00 – 9.15
Laura Dixon (Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung (IPK), Germany) – Introduction to AWAS and the workshop.

9.15 – 9.45
Guy Golan (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) – Scaling law links plant growth variation to grain yield in wheat stands.

9.45 – 10.15
Yanjie Song (University of Leeds, UK) – Identification of molecular signals in response to temperature stress along floret development in bread wheat.

10.15 – 10.45
Matías Schierenbeck (Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung (IPK), Germany) – Advancing the Potential for Above- and Below-ground Integrated Phenotyping, Physiology, and Modeling under Abiotic Stress through a Thermal Time Framework.

10.45 – 11.15
Simon Griffiths (John Innes Centre, UK) - Targeted Identification of Traits for Increased Yield Under UK Agricultural Drought

11.15 – 11.45
Coffee Break

11.45 – 12.30
Round Table Discussion – Understanding abiotic multistresses across development.

If you are interested in being part of the Expert Working Group? Join here:

https://www.wheatinitiative.org/ewg-awas

The Wheat Initiative Expert Working Group on Wheat Information System presents:

WheatIS annual meeting

This annual meeting will bring together members of the WheatIS expert group. Anyone interested in the subject of wheat databases is welcome to attend the meeting.

WheatIS annual meeting provisional agenda

• 9h – 9h40 Introduction and News (Michael Alaux, INRAE)

• Welcome onsite and online 10’

• Expert Working Group news 10’

• WheatIS Data Discovery updates 20’

• 9h40 – 10h20 Travel awardees presentations

• Lamyae Ed-Daoudy (phd student at ICARDA) 20'

• Monica Danilevicz (UWA and IRTA) 20'

• 10h20 – 10h40 Break and group photo

• 10h40 – 11h20 Information system presentations

• Graingenes updates (Taner Sen, USDA-ARS) 20’

• CIMMYT wheat breeding and data management system (Paolo Vitale, CIMMYT) 20’

• 11h20 – 11h50 AI hackathon discussion (Keywan Hassani-Pak, Rothamsted Research)

• 11h50 – 12h Conclusion (Michael Alaux, INRAE)

If you are interested in being part of the global wheat information system community? Join our Wheat Information System Expert Working Group

The Wheat Initiative Expert Working Group on Nutrient Use Efficiency in wheat presents:

What’s new in wheat NUE?

This annual meeting will bring together members of the Expert Working Group on Nutrient Use Efficiency in wheat . Anyone interested in the subject is welcome to attend.

WI NUE Expert Working Group

Workshop at IWC 2026, Sunday May 24th

What’s new in wheat NUE ? – Annual meeting of the WI NUE Expert Working Group

Morning 09h00 / 12h30 - NUE EWG 2026 annual meeting (for members only)

·         Updates about group activities

·         Feedback from webinar series: summarizing the challenges and strategies to improving Nitrogen Use Efficiency

·         Plans for 2026-2027

-- Lunch break 12h30/13h30 -- 

Afternoon 13h30 / 17h00 – Open session

·         Introduction: main challenges impacting wheat NUE in 2026 (format to be confirmed)

·         Presentation 1: Durum wheat lines with improved root growth and N uptake on acidic sandy soils with high Al3+ content (definitive title to be confirmed) – Pr. Jairo Palta (UWA - Australia)

·         Presentation 2: Harnessing AMF to improve nutrient use efficiency in diverse durum wheat genotypes under environmental stresses (definitive title to be confirmed) – Dr. Raffaella Balestrini (CNR – Italy)

·         Presentation 3: Evaluating bread wheat Nitrogen Use Efficiency components under various environments (definitive title to be confirmed) – Dr. Jean-Pierre COHAN and Dr. Amanda Oliveira Silva (ARVALIS – France and OSU – USA).

·         Presentation 4: tbc

·         Presentation 5: tbc

·         Presentation 6: tbc

If you are interested in being part of the Expert Working Group on Nutrient Use Efficiency in wheat?Join here: https://www.wheatinitiative.org/ewg-nutrient

The Wheat Initiative Expert Working Group on Control of Wheat Pathogens presents:

Wheat Pathogens Symposium at 4th International Wheat Congress in Bologna, Italy

The goal of the Wheat Pathogens Symposium is to provide a platform for researchers to share the latest knowledge on pathogen-wheat interactions and to offer opportunities for networking. This will enable the EWG to facilitate a discussion on strategies to minimise the impact of microbial diseases of wheat. Presentations will focus on short research talks, with early career researchers given priority to present and chair sessions. Time permitting, an open discussion session will be held in the afternoon.

programme:

If you are interested in being part of the global wheat pathognes community? Join our Control of Wheat Pathogens Expert Working Group

Click on the ad to learn more about the workshops our Expert Working Groups will be conducting at the International Wheat Congress in Bologna, Italy, ' #IWC2026Bologna!

The Chairs of our Expert Working Group on Nutrient Use Efficiency are pleased to share the next edition of ONE HOUR NUE a web conference:

• Date/ Timeslot : Wednesday, May 6th 2026, 14h00pm CET (CET, French Time)

• Speaker : Russ McKenzie

• Title of the presentation : “NUE, perspective on getting the best out of fertiliser products & being clever with less”

Registration is mandatory please click here:

Russ McKenzie

has a background in farm management since 1996, managing farms in Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire in the UK. Since 2002 he has set up his own consultancy business to run alongside the farm to host a large number of trials  that are undertaken annually. The trials work consists of looking at a range of varieties and overlaying a range of treatments and levels of input to understand best how they react and perform under differing seasons along with extensive work with bio-stimulants and understanding how they can work and perform with different crops. He was a Nuffield Scholar in 2014 researching “Success with No-till under any conditions” my travels took me to Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Brazil and Argentina. He also was the winner of the YEN (Yield Enhancement Network) Innovator of the year 2022 & Sustainable farming award at National Arable & Grassland awards 2026. He has a deep interest in making his soils perform to the best of their ability whilst also looking to push the boundaries for crop performance and understanding what makes different varieties tick in different situations.

Our Expert Working Group on Control of Wheat Pathogens has invited Sarrah Ben M’Barek, Regional Field Crop Research Center of Béja (CRRGC), Tunisiato give an online talk.

The title  of the presentation is: Unravelling Wheat–Fungal Pathogen Dynamics for Resilient Crops in Tunisia.

The Chairs of the Pathogens EWG look forward to your attendance, and please feel free to share with anyone who may be interested.

This will take place on Tuesday, April 21st 2026

(9am Calgary/5pm Berlin/2:30am Adelaide) via the link below.

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/25288704053424?p=HRRVPAuN04KhL9kJV9

Meeting ID: 252 887 040 534 24

Passcode: N7Sz7ha9

Need help? | System reference

The Expert Working Group on Wheat Breeding Methods and Strategies invites you to join their webinar!

Anindya BandyopadhyayCimmyt, Mexico (find a short bio here) will present on Advances in CRISPR technology in wheat and other crops

8:00 AM MDT (Mountain Time)

7:00 AM PDT (Los Angeles)

4:00 PM CEST (Berlin)

12:30 AM ACST (April 15, Adelaide)

Join from the webinar link

Mondal, Suchismita is inviting you to a scheduled Webex webinar.

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

8:00 AM  |  (UTC-06:00) Mountain Time (US & Canada)  |  1 hr 30 mins

Join webinar

More ways to join:

Join from the webinar link

https://montana.webex.com/montana/j.php?MTID=m15d61816164ec1e054cb3d212d7e30d9

Join by the webinar number

Webinar number (access code): 2337 155 9860

Webinar password: bB7kZcCiq53 (22759224 when dialing from a phone or video system)

 Our Expert Working Group on Control of Wheat Pathogens has invited Dr. Xianming Chen (USDA, Pullman, Washington) to give an online talk.

The title  of the presentation is: Stripe rust epidemiology and control by host resistance.

The Chairs of the Pathogens EWG look forward to your attendance, and please feel free to share with anyone who may be interested.

This will take place on Friday, February 27th 2026

(11am Calgary/7pm Berlin/4:30am Adelaide on the 28th) via the link below.

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Join the meeting now

Meeting ID: 271 207 458 096 26

Passcode: NG27Vv6d

About:

Dr. Chen is a highly recognized scientist whose research on stripe rust has had a major impact in North America and globally.

Later Event: May 25

4th International Wheat Congress #IWC2026Bologna

 Our Expert Working Group on Control of Wheat Pathogens has invited Cesaree Morier-Gxyiya to give an online talk.

The title  of the presentation is: Improving wheat stem rust models under climate change with updated environmental parameters.

The Chairs of the Pathogens EWG look forward to your attendance, and please feel free to share with anyone who may be interested.

This will take place on Tuesday, Feurary 3rd 2026

(9am Calgary/5pm Berlin/2:30am Adelaide) via the link below.

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Join the meeting now

Meeting ID: 276 360 271 555 98

Passcode: Yn9RD7v5

About:

Cesaree Morier-Gxyiya is in the final year of her PhD studies at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK, in Diane Saunders’ group, where she combines wet lab experiments with epidemiological modeling to study the impact of climate change on plant pathogens.

The Expert Working Group on Wheat Breeding Methods and Strategies invites you to join their webinar!

Martin Mariani Ventura of Bioceres Crop Solution (find a short bio here) will present on “HB4 Wheat”

9:00 AM CDT (Chicago time, USA)

7:00 AM PDT (Los Angeles, USA)

4:00 PM CET (Berlin, Germany)

00:30 AM ACST (Adelaide, Australia) 22nd of January

Join from the webinar link

https://montana.webex.com/montana/j.php?MTID=m3905eb942703798a02d7f5faf60675c4

Join by the webinar number

Webinar number (access code): 2332 733 4770

Webinar password: N3htu3QRAJ9 (63488377 when dialing from a phone or video system)

The Expert Working Group on Improving Wheat Quality for Processing and Health is organising a virtual workshop titled:

“Wheat Quality and Climate Change: Impacts of Drought and Heat Stress on Grain Quality.”

🗓 Date: December 9

🕐 Time: 13:30–15:30 (Berlin time)

💻 Format: Online

The call for speakers for this event is now closed.

Meeting Schedule (1:30–3:30 pm)

Find full schedule with abstracts for download here: Meeting Schedule with Abstracts

• Understanding the effects of global warming on wheat grain to improve the stability of breadmaking quality.

  Laïla Cruz, INRAE, France

• Processability and Nutritional Quality of Bread Wheat Evolutionary Population as Affected by Drought Stress in Central Italy.

  Chiara Natale, CREA, Italy

• Dissect the genetic basis of key grain quality traits under heat stress by integrating genomic and phenotypic analyses to identify resistance-associated QTNs and their validation through KASP assays.

  Sundeep Kumar, ICAR–National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, India

• Do differences in wheat grain hardness influence its resilience to drought?

  Marion Sérié, INRAE, France

• Short Heat Waves During Grain Development Impact Carotenoid Content in Durum Wheat.

  María Dolores Requena-Ramírez, CSIC, Spain

• Contrasted response of two bread wheat varieties to combined post-anthesis heat stress and sulfur supply on yield, grain composition and end-use quality.

  Rosie Sangata, INRAE, France

• Heat-shock treatment of durum wheat landraces during gametogenesis and its effects in fertility and grain quality.

  Marina Martinez, UPM, Spain

• Evaluation of bread wheat varieties grown in high rainfall growing seasons in Ireland for quality and nutritional traits.

  Sinead Dermody, Teagasc, Ireland

• Irrigation Effects on Wheat Quality: The Wheatbiome Project Perspective on Sustainable Wheat Production.

  Rosa Pérez Gregorio, University of Vigo, Spain

To join the meeting on the 9th of DECEMBER follow the link below:

When it's time, join your Webex meeting here.

Join meeting

Join from the meeting link

https://wheat-initiative.webex.com/wheat-initiative/j.php?MTID=me4e6e1ea08eff004aff556fbec9422ea

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Our Expert Working Group on Control of Wheat Pathogens has invited Dr John Caradus and Dr Wayne Simpson to give an online talk.

The title  of the presentation is The exploitation of Epichloë endophytes for agricultural advantage – application to cereals.

The Chairs of the Pathogens EWG look forward to your attendance, and please feel free to share with anyone who may be interested.

This will take place on Thursday, December 3rd 2025

(2pm Calgary/10pm Berlin/7:30am Adelaide 4th) via the link below.

Microsoft Teams Need help?

Join the meeting now

Meeting ID: 215 799 911 194 6

Passcode: 4cK7Ta7M

Dr John Caradus

John Caradus is currently Chief Technical Officer of Grasslanz Technology Ltd, having been Chief Executive for nearly 19 years, based in New Zealand. Previously John was CEO of Dexcel Ltd, and a Science General Manager for AgResearch. John has a background in agricultural research with particular emphasis on plant breeding. John was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ) in 2006 and is an Honorary Fellow NZ Institute Agricultural and Horticultural Science (1998), and Fellow Agronomy Society NZ (1996). John was elected a Life Member of NZ Grassland Association in 2018. He is a Past President of the NZ Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science (NZIAHS), and the NZ Grassland Association, and is the current chair of the NZ Plant Breeding and Research Association. He has served on the RSNZ Council and RSNZ Academy of Fellows. He has been awarded the Pickering Medal (2018) and Thomson Medal (2020) by RSNZ, the AgMardt NZHIAS Technology and Knowledge Transfer Award (2023), and the NZIAHS Jubilee Medal (2025). He has a number of company directorships, including being an independent director of Foundation for Arable Research (FAR). John has authored more than 280 science journal and conference papers, and book chapter

Dr Wayne Simpson

Wayne is currently a Senior Scientist for the Plant & Endophyte Technologies Team, Bioeconomy Science Institute (BSI)-AgResearch Group. He combines an interest in microbes (MSc Microbiology) and plants (PhD Plant Biology) undertaking research in plant-microbe interactions. My research has led to the development of nature-based solutions addressing animal health issues, such as ryegrass staggers, and the development of fungal biocontrol technologies for cereal crops. These biotechnologies contribute to plant and animal health and productivity and reduce the need to use synthetic pesticides

The Chairs of our Expert Working Group on Wheat Phenotyping are pleased to invite you to the Pheno Connect- Seminar!
🗓 November 26th, 13:00 CET
💻 Online seminar
🎙 Speaker: Rick van de Zedde (Wageningen University & Research)
Topic: Automated data collection of plant phenotypes - the role of IT-systems, metadata, protocols, etc. for FAIR requirements and practical benefits

To join us, please register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScRHlc3zXWZT0ErEjbRCVJJVssFqWZswqBls5yP6Kiare1ArQ/viewform?usp=header

Close to the date you will receive the link to the seminar.

Our Expert Working Group on Control of Wheat Pathogens has invitedMegan McDonald from the University of Brimingham, UK to this online talk.

The title  of the presentation is Jumping Genes and Pathogenic Schemes: the diverse roles that transposons play in pathogen evolution.

Summary of the talk: Transposons have carried many names since their discovery by Barbara McClintock in 1950. Common names such as “junk-DNA” underplayed their importance in the driving adaptation in the genomes of organisms where they are found. As described by Prof. McClintock transposons have a powerful impact on the phenotype of the host, which we now understand to be driven by several different mechanisms, including gene disruption, exon capture and regulatory changes, among others. Our work over the last several years has sought to understand how transposons drive adaptive evolution in plant pathogenic fungi. Fungal genomes are highly variable in their transposon content and contain many novel transposons that have yet to be functionally characterised. We now have very detailed examples of how transposons drive the duplication, pseduogenisation and horizontal movement of effector genes all of which can have real world impacts on the incidence and severity of disease in the field. This talk will explore two of these examples; firstly the duplication and inactivation of ToxB by helitron transposons and secondly the horizontal movement of the necrotrophic effector ToxA within giant Starship transposons. This work provides a foundation for the study of transposon-mediated effector evolution at the field scale as well as mechanistic studies that leverage the diversity of fungal transposons for novel applications in biotechnology.

The Chairs of the Pathogens EWG look forward to your attendance, and please feel free to share with anyone who may be interested.

This will take place on Thursday, November 20th 2025

(9am Calgary/5pm Berlin/2:30am Adelaide) via the link below.

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Meeting ID: 281 268 009 362 4

Passcode: JR9kd7YE

Dial in by phone

+1 647-498-8268,,935995260# Canada, Toronto

Find a local number

Phone conference ID: 935 995 260#

The Chairs of our Expert Working Group on Nutrient Use Efficiency apologize for the inconvenience with the last webinar and are pleased to announce a web conference affiliated with the group will be organised in Friday November 14th 2025, 10h00 am – 11h00 am CET.

Registration is mandatory please click here:

https://forms.gle/hC6UXBesFHBoqWYt5

See below the details:

•            Date/ Timeslot : Friday November 14th 2025, 10h00 am – 11h00 am (CET, French Time)

•            Speaker : Clint Della Bosca, farmer (Australia) and chairman of WANTFA (WA No-Till Farming Association)

•            Title of the presentation : “Drive to Increase NUE to balance Production versus Risk in a Low Rainfall Environment”

The Expert Working Group on Wheat Phenotyping will hold their Virtual Annual Meeting. Attandance only by invitation.