Summary
This book chapter, published in the edited volume 'Wheat Improvement: Food Security in a Changing Climate' (Springer, 2022), provides a comprehensive overview of global wheat system trends spanning production, consumption and trade. Drawing on FAO and CIMMYT data sources, the authors — a team of agricultural economists and wheat scientists — contextualise the crop's centrality to global food security and map how supply and demand dynamics have shifted across major wheat-producing and -importing regions. The chapter serves as a foundational reference for understanding the structural conditions within which wheat improvement research operates.
UK applicability
Although the analysis is global in scope, it is directly relevant to UK policy and agricultural planning given the UK's role as both a significant wheat producer and a participant in international grain trade; post-Brexit trade policy and domestic food security considerations make the global context described here pertinent to UK decision-makers.
Key measures
Harvested area (million ha); wheat yield (t/ha); total production (million tonnes); per capita consumption (kg/person/year); trade volumes and flows (million tonnes)
Outcomes reported
The chapter examines long-run trends in global wheat area, yield, production volumes, per capita consumption patterns, and international trade flows. It likely identifies regional shifts in production dominance, demand growth in developing countries, and the evolving structure of global wheat markets.
Topic tags
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