Welcome

World wheat production—and the food security of millions of the world's poorest people—is gravely threatened by a new highly virulent stem rust population, known as Ug99, emerging from East Africa.

The Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat Project, a collaborative effort begun in April 2008 by seventeen research institutions around the world and led by Cornell University, seeks to aggressively mitigate that threat through coordinated activities that will replace susceptible varieties with seed of durably resistant varieties, created by accelerated multilateral plant breeding, and delivered through optimized developing country seed sectors. The project also aims to harness recent advances in genomics to introduce non-host resistance (immunity) into wheat.

Improved international collaboration in wheat research to meet growing world demand for food—an estimated 50% production increase in wheat alone is needed by 2020—is another major goal of this project. For more information about how to engage with this project, please contact the DRRW coordination office.

We look forward to offering additional resources for scientists, policymakers and investors interested in wheat stem rust via this project website in the near future.

Official Press Release [PDF]

Project Executive Summary [PDF]

Comments from Dr. N.E. Borlaug in support of the DRRW project [PDF]