[4] During the transition from a hunter-gatherer social structure to more agrarian societies, humans began to cultivate wheat and further transform it for their needs.
Further transformations using cytogenic hybridization techniques enabled Norman Borlaug, father of the second Green Revolution,[4] to develop wheat species (the semidwarf varieties) that would grow in harsh environments.
Recombinant DNA techniques were developed in the 1980s, work began on creating the first transgenic wheat, coincident with the third Green Revolution.
[10][23][24][25][26][27] The Argentinian company Bioceres developed a plant with the HaHB4 gene and it was grown under a wide range of growing conditions that showed better adaptation to drought-prone environments, the most important constraint affecting crop yields worldwide.
The Argentina-based company Bioceres developed a genetically modified wheat variety with higher yield under drought stress.
[39] Environmental Risk assessments have been conducted by Monsanto,[40] and government regulatory agencies have approved its use in food;[41] However, farmers were worried about the potential loss of markets in Europe and Asia due to public refusal of the end product,[42][43] so Monsanto withdrew its EPA application for Roundup-Ready Wheat.
"[52] As of August 30, 2013, while the source of the GM wheat remained unknown, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan had all resumed placing orders, and the disruption of the export market was minimal.
[53] The investigation was closed in 2014 after the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service had exhausted all leads, but had not found any evidence that the wheat had entered commercial supply.
In 2019, the USDA announced that genetically modified wheat plants engineered to resist Roundup were detected in an unplanted field in Washington state.