Although more food is needed for the rapidlygrowing human population, food qualityalso needs to be improved, particularly forincreased nutrient content. In addition, agricul-tural inputs must be reduced, especially those ofnitrogenous fertilizers, if we are to reduce en-vironmental degradation caused by emissionsof CO2and nitrogenous compounds from agri-cultural processes. Furthermore, there are nowconcerns about our ability to increase or evensustain crop yield and quality in the face of dy-namic environmental and biotic threats that willbe particularly challenging in the face of rapidglobal environmental change. The current di-version of substantial quantities of food into theproduction of biofuels puts further pressure onworld food supplies (1).Breeding and agronomic improvements have,on average, achieved a linear increase in foodproduction globally, at an average rate of 32 millionmetric tons per year (2) (Fig. 1). However, to meetthe recent Declaration of the World Summit onFood Security (3) target of 70% more food by2050, an average annual increase in production of44 million metric tons per year is required (Fig. 1),representing a 38% increase over historicalincreases in production, to be sustained for 40years. This scale of sustained increase in globalfood production is unprecedented and requiressubstantial changes in methods for agronomicprocesses and crop improvement. Achieving thisincrease in food production in a stable environmentwould be challenging, but is undoubtedly