Modern Wheat, Facts vs Fiction - Brett Carver

Myths abound about modern wheat -- "it's higher in gluten,"" it's GMO," and more -- so we asked Brett Carver, PhD, Regents Professor of Agriculture at Oklahoma State University to set the record straight, by speaking on the topic "Rooting out Fiction to See the Facts of Today's Wheat."
Recorded at the Whole Grains Breaking Barriers conference, organized in November 2014 by Oldways and the Whole Grains Council.
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[@donstinchccomb1462]

Brett Carver's presentation should be taken at face value. After all, the popularity of ancient grains is the general publics' view as to the extent of mans manipulation of our food supply. The theory is running in tandem with nutritionists' and dieticians' recommendations to eat less processed food. We may have hit a nerve; after all, the thought processes behind the massive hybridization of wheat, overly processed packaged foods and the fact that 71% of antibiotics in the United States are used in animal agriculture all points to increasing the bottom line with little attention paid to improving the diet of the consumer.
Of particular concern is the cavalier way in which Dr. Carver presented the measure to which the DNA in wheat is different from the ancient grains. A 2% difference does not sound like a lot but he failed to mention that the wheat genome is significantly more complicated than the human genome with its 25000 genes. Scientists have been mapping the wheat genome for well over 7 years and are still not done. Wheat is estimated to have between 150000 and 250000 genes. Many of these genes act as on/off light switches which control many important functions. A 2% difference in wheat is huge when we are reminded that .5% is the difference in DNA between humans and monkeys.
Dr. Carver confessed that breeders have spent much more time with "functionality" which he does not define, than with improving nutrition. I take functionality as he uses it to mean improving yielding; data I have seen from countless field trials may be judged on a variety of criteria but ever present is the pound yield per acre. As he implied, if he did not deliver that then he would be out of a job. With the limited effort of wheat breeders to improve nutrition is it any wonder that they are challenged when certain varieties exhibit a reduction in attributes as in the case of a observed reduction in zinc?
Breeding goes on. Breeders are working with dozens of new varieties every year along with those varieties that were hybridized years before. Improvements in one area could be detrimental in another area that may be of little concern in that breeder's attempt to reach his goal. It is said that Norman Borlaug, the father of the Green Revolution, created over 6000 varieties of wheat between 1948 and the early 1960's.

[@colonyofcells]

Global warming might destroy wheat crops and cause global famines. Might need gmo wheat that can survive global warming.