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 much