The International Winter Wheat Improvement Program (IWWIP) Annual Meeting

The International Winter Wheat Improvement Program (IWWIP) Annual Meeting was held at the Transitional Zone Agricultural Research Institute in Eskişehir, Turkiye, on April 15–16, 2025.

In the meeting, there were around 50 participants, including the Deputy Governor of Eskişehir city, DG of TAGEM Dr. M. Altuğ Atalay, DDG Dr. Fatih Özdemir, representatives from CIMMYT and ICARDA in Türkiye, as well as directors and researchers from 12 research institutes involved in IWWIP activities.

To date, a total of 142 winter facultative wheat (WFW) varieties have been registered across 11 countries, covering nearly 3 million hectares; 68 of the varieties are registered in Türkiye. In addition, a lot of IWWIP germplasm have been used as parents in breeding programs who cooperate with IWWIP.

The last IWWIP Annual Meeting was held in 2020; since then, we could not hold the meetings due to the COVID-19 and the earthquake in Türkiye. This year’s meeting provided a platform to review ongoing research activities, assess progress in material development, exchange ideas on strengthening human resource capacity development, and fine tuning the activities in coming years. The participants were enthusiastic about continuing the IWWIP. Next meeting will be held again in one of the Research Institutes in Türkiye; the date will be arranged accordingly with the general meetings of TAGEM and the schedule that fits to all parties.