Editing Wheat (section)

=== Farming techniques ===

{{further|British agricultural revolution}}

Technological advances in soil preparation and seed placement at planting time, use of [[crop rotation]] and [[fertilizer]]s to improve plant growth, and advances in harvesting methods have all combined to promote wheat as a viable crop. When the use of [[seed drill]]s replaced broadcasting sowing of seed in the 18th century, another great increase in productivity occurred. Yields of pure wheat per unit area increased as methods of crop rotation were applied to land that had long been in cultivation, and the use of fertilizers became widespread.<ref>{{cite book |last=Overton |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Overton |title=Agricultural Revolution in England: The transformation of the agrarian economy 1500-1850 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780521568593 |url-access=registration |year=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-56859-3 |page=1, and throughout}}</ref>

Improved agricultural husbandry has more recently included pervasive [[agricultural automation|automation]], starting with the use of [[threshing machine]]s,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Caprettini |first1=Bruno |last2=Voth |first2=Hans-Joachim |title=Rage against the Machines: Labor-Saving Technology and Unrest in Industrializing England |journal=American Economic Review: Insights |year=2020 |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=305–320 |doi=10.1257/aeri.20190385 |s2cid=234622559 |doi-access=free}}</ref> and progressing to large and costly machines like the [[combine harvester]] which greatly increased productivity.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Century of Innovation: Twenty Engineering Achievements That Transformed Our Lives, Chapter 7, Agricultural Mechanization |last=Constable |first=George |author2=Somerville, Bob |year=2003 |publisher=Joseph Henry Press |location=Washington, DC |isbn=0-309-08908-5 |url= http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=2955}}</ref> At the same time, better varieties such as [[Norin 10 wheat]], developed in Japan in the 1930s,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Borojevic |first1=Katarina |last2=Borojevic |first2=Ksenija |date=July–August 2005 |title=The Transfer and History of "Reduced Height Genes" (Rht) in Wheat from Japan to Europe |journal=[[Journal of Heredity]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |volume=96 |issue=4 |pages=455–459 |doi=10.1093/jhered/esi060 |pmid=15829727 |doi-access=free }}</ref> or the dwarf wheat developed by [[Norman Borlaug]] in the [[Green Revolution]], greatly increased yields.<ref name="Shindler-2016">{{cite web |last1=Shindler |first1=Miriam |title=From east Asia to south Asia, via Mexico: how one gene changed the course of history |url=https://www.cimmyt.org/news/from-east-asia-to-south-asia-via-mexico-how-one-gene-changed-the-course-of-history/ |website=CIMMYT |date=3 January 2016 |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Brown |first=L. R. |title=Nobel Peace Prize: developer of high-yield wheat receives award (Norman Ernest Borlaug) |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |date=30 October 1970 |volume=170 |issue=957 |pages=518–519|doi=10.1126/science.170.3957.518 |pmid=4918766 }}</ref>

In addition to gaps 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 farmers' inability to bring the produce into retail markets dominated by small shopkeepers. Some 10% of total wheat production is lost at farm level, another 10% is lost because of poor storage and road networks, and additional amounts are lost at the retail level.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Economic Analysis of Post-harvest Losses in Food Grains in India: A Case Study of Karnataka |author1= Basavaraja, H. |author2=Mahajanashetti, S.B. |author3=Udagatti, N.C. |journal=Agricultural Economics Research Review |volume=20 |pages=117–126 |url=http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/47429/2/8.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/47429/2/8.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|year=2007}}</ref>

In the [[Punjab region]] of the Indian subcontinent, 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.<ref name="Godfray-2010">{{cite journal |last1=Godfray |first1=H.C. |last2=Beddington |first2=J. R. |last3=Crute |first3=I. R. |last4=Haddad |first4=L. |last5=Lawrence |first5=D. |last6=Muir |first6=J. F. |last7=Pretty |first7=J. |last8=Robinson |first8=S. |last9=Thomas |first9=S. M. |last10=Toulmin |first10=C. |display-authors=5 |year=2010 |title=Food security: The challenge of feeding 9 billion people |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=327 |issue=5967 |pages=812–818 |bibcode=2010Sci...327..812G |doi=10.1126/science.1185383 |pmid=20110467 |doi-access=free}}</ref> 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&nbsp;mm), wheat cropping is successful even with relatively little use of nitrogenous fertilizer. This is achieved by crop rotation with leguminous pastures. The inclusion of a [[canola]] crop in the rotations has boosted wheat yields by a further 25%.<ref>{{cite web |last=Swaminathan |first=M. S. |date=2004 |url=http://www.cropscience.org.au/icsc2004/plenary/0/2159_swaminathan.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050618044418/http://cropscience.org.au/icsc2004/plenary/0/2159_swaminathan.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=18 June 2005 |title=Stocktake on cropping and crop science for a diverse planet |publisher=Proceedings of the 4th International Crop Science Congress, Brisbane, Australia}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.grainscouncil.com/EMS/06_Nov_02_Production_Farming_Practices.pdf|title=Umbers, Alan (2006, Grains Council of Australia Limited) Grains Industry trends in Production – Results from Today's Farming Practices |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170126000226/http://www.grainscouncil.com/EMS/06_Nov_02_Production_Farming_Practices.pdf |archive-date=26 January 2017}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px">
File:John Constable, The Wheat Field.jpg|''[[The Wheat Field (Constable)|The Wheat Field]]'' by [[John Constable]], 1816
Wheat Farm in Behbahan, Iran.jpg|Field ready for harvesting
Unload wheat by the combine Claas Lexion 584.jpg|[[Combine harvester]] cuts the wheat stems, [[threshing|threshes]] the wheat, crushes the [[chaff]] and blows it across the field, and loads the grain onto a tractor trailer.
</gallery>