Food production: reducing water consumption by manipulating long-distance chemical signalling in plants.

One of the great challenges for the future is the production of sufficient food for a dramatically growing population during a period of climate change where water supplies are dwindling, and phytotoxic air pollutants such as ozone are increasing. By 2050 global grain demand is expected to double (Postel, 1998; Tilman et al., 2002; Schiermeier, 2008). Greater food production, however, will require larger areas of irrigated land unless the water use efficiency (WUE) of crop plants can be increased. To increase and sustain food production the following ecophysiological, genetic, and agronomic actions have been suggested (Postel, 1998; Tilman et al., 2002; Schiermeier, 2008).