A crop disease without borders: Why wheat stem rust threatens your food security

Wheat Stem Rust (WSR) is no longer a localized crop disease. New strains are spreading across continents and overcoming resistance in widely grown wheat varieties. International markets spread the impacts of WSR far beyond outbreak zones. Even countries without outbreaks can face higher prices, lower food access and rising hunger. By 2050, WSR could put an additional 1 to 2.6 million people at risk of hunger each year, over a no-disease situation, rising to as many as 10 million in a worst-case scenario. WSR will impact primarily the most food-insecure populations worldwide. Investing in wheat disease research and wheat resistant varieties is a global public good. The benefits extend far beyond outbreaks regions, but no single country has enough incentives to invest alone.