Wheat is one of the world鈥檚 staple foods and a big crop on the Great Plains, but it has been left in the dust. A corn farmer can grow 44 percent more bushels per acre than 30 years ago, but only 16 percent more wheat. That鈥檚 led many farmers to make a switch.

鈥淲heat acres have been going down since 1981 or 1982 when they were up around 86 million acres,鈥� said Steve Joehl, director of research with the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG). 鈥淚 think last year we had a little over 56 million. It鈥檚 just a straight trend line down.鈥�

The U.S. used to be one of the top wheat producers in the world, but Joehl says that has been slipping.

鈥淲e鈥檝e lost share in world market from 16 to 8 percent of world wheat production.鈥�

Joehl says the way to turn that around is by revitalizing wheat research. NAWG is developing what is being called the .

鈥淲e need more resources applied to breeding, breeding technology, soil health, fungicides, chemistry, weed control,鈥� Joehl said. 鈥淲e need a lot of work to be done in wheat that鈥檚 currently not going on.鈥�

One way the industry could catch up is with wheat hybrids. Hybrid crops are made by crossing two parent plants instead of allowing them to self-pollinate. If they鈥檙e compatible, you can see a jump in yield over conventional breeding.

Hybrid corn has been around for about a century. It鈥檚 one of the reasons for the big gains in corn yield. Researchers have developed hybrid sorghum, rice and canola, but there is currently no hybrid wheat on the market.

Inventing hybrid wheat

Seed companies have tried to create hybrid wheat before, in the 1970s and 1980s, but University of Nebraska Lincoln plant breeder Stephen Baenziger says the project became too expensive.

鈥淭hey spent 15-20 years developing hybrid wheats and by the end of it didn鈥檛 see enough progress,鈥� Baenziger said.

Now, a handful of university wheat breeding programs including UNL and Texas A&M are putting part of their seed science efforts toward hybrids.

Public breeding programs are a big part of the wheat seed industry. Baenziger estimates 60-70 percent of wheat varieties planted in states like Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska come from university research.

Inside Baenziger鈥檚 greenhouse in Lincoln, Neb., tables are topped with rows of potted wheat plants.

鈥淲e鈥檙e transferring the hybrid system in spring wheats in Australia to hard red and hard white winter wheats that will be grown in Nebraska,鈥� Baenziger said, grabbing a stem and bending down to take a closer look.

After cross-pollinating the plants researchers can start testing hundreds of combinations of wheat varieties to see which ones create a hybrid bump in yield. Corn is easy to hybridize because the male and female parts of the plant 鈥� the tassel and the ear 鈥� are separate. In wheat they鈥檙e packed inside a tiny floret.

鈥淚n wheat, the stigma and anthers, the parts that are male and female, are encapsulated in each little floret,鈥� said Amanda Easterly, a Ph.D. researcher at UNL working on the hybrid wheat project. 鈥淪o when we make crosses in the greenhouse, it鈥檚 a painstaking process of clipping each little floret open and removing anthers.鈥�

Hybrid research takes a lot of trial and error, and Stephen Baenziger says wheat is at a huge disadvantage in research manpower.

鈥淭here are 120 breeders in wheat in the United States, there are 800 breeders in corn,鈥� Baenziger said. 鈥淵ou would expect greater gains.鈥�

It could be another 5-10 years before there is a breakthrough with hybrid wheat. But if it works, hybrids could be a boost both for farmers and for seed companies. Farmers have to buy new hybrid seed each year, which would be a change for an industry in which many producers save part of the crop to replant.

From hybrid to GMO

Syngenta, Bayer, and DuPont have each said they have hybrid wheat in the works. If they are the first to develop a high-yielding hybrid, it could help them corner the market for wheat seed. Unlike corn and soybeans, which are dominated by just a few companies, wheat seed sales are divided among a broader mix of commercial companies and even universities marketing their own varieties.

Hybrid wheat could also be a first step toward genetically modified wheat.

There is no genetically modified wheat on the market. The National Association of Wheat Growers鈥� Steve Joehl says part of the reason is conventional breeding is cheaper and biotech traits come with regulatory hurdles. But there are some problems breeding can鈥檛 seem to solve, such as a fungus called wheat scab.

鈥淚t is probably the one stress we need to crack,鈥� Joehl said. Scientist have tried to breed resistance to the disease. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 get bulletproof resistance that way, and it may mean if we can鈥檛 make advancements to it that we鈥檙e going to have to rely on biotechnology.鈥�

Are wheat farmers looking for hybrids and GMOs? Michael Thomas farms wheat, soybeans and corn near Ogallala, Neb. He鈥檚 seen how research can pay off.

鈥淭hese corn varieties have certainly made them yield more and get by with less water and it鈥檚 fairly miraculous really,鈥� Thomas said.

But Thomas is cautious about going the biotech route with wheat. Given the resistance many people have toward GMOs, even though scientists say they鈥檙e safe, Thomas isn鈥檛 sure they鈥檙e worth the risk.

鈥淚, of course, use biotech soybeans and alfalfa and corn. I don鈥檛 have any reservations about the idea of biotech,鈥� Thomas said. 鈥淚 just don鈥檛 know if it鈥檚 going to be a magic bullet that鈥檚 going to fix some of the issues that we have in the wheat industry.鈥�

The main issue Thomas is concerned about is demand. The gluten-free craze has people eating less bread. That鈥檚 hurt wheat prices. Couple that with a research gap and farmers are switching to corn.

How to raise more wheat, and make more money for farmers, is what researchers have to figure out if the industry wants to keep from losing more ground.