With its work the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has laid the foundation for many new maize and wheat varieties, several of which exhibit improved tolerance to heat or drought stress. The non-profit research and training organisation based in Mexico is one of the global players when it comes to  breeding improved wheat. This work makes CIMMYT an important research partner for the JKI and thus lead in 2019 to the signing of a Declaration of Intent to intensify joint research (https://www.cimmyt.org/).

To take this intention one step further, CIMMYT and the Julius Kühn Institute jointly organised a workshop to bring together representatives of other important European research institutions at JKI's  Berlin site. The workshop took place on  11th and 12th February 2025 and provided an opportunity to connect fundamental research (pre-breeding) and applied breeding. The 50 selected participants took the opportunity to exchange views on scientific approaches and methods, as well as to present and discuss results.

‘The workshop at JKI in Berlin was very important for CIMMYT in order to make good use of the expertise of the European research landscape to aid our goal to achieve food security in the Global South. At the same time, we as CIMMYT had the opportunity to transfer our broad knowledge from our  vast field trials to our European partners,’ said Prof Dr Bram Govaerts, Director General of the International Centre for Maize and Wheat Improvement, in Spanish Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo, or CIMMYT for short.

‘I am pleased that we have organised this high level workshop together with CIMMYT in Berlin. During the workshop, it became evident that there is a high interest in the exchange of expertise between fundamental research and applied wheat research,’ said Prof Dr Frank Ordon, President of the Julius Kühn Institute, after the workshop.