Pasta of the future: climate-resistant wheat tested in Italy

In the Emilia-Romagna region, Italy's so-called Food Valley, researchers are creating the pasta of the future by focusing on its main ingredient: wheat. According to a France 24 report, scientists are using technology to improve the iconic Italian dish, breeding varieties that can withstand the hotter, drier conditions that are becoming the Mediterranean norm.

The work comes as Italy endures its fourth heatwave of the summer, with all 27 major cities placed under the highest heat alert and temperatures in some areas edging close to 40°C, as The Guardian reported this week. For the southern regions, where the climate is already more arid and water is scarcer, the stakes are existential.

Sicily, with its deep agricultural heritage and a landscape that has grown wheat since the Greeks first colonised the island, stands to be a primary beneficiary — or a primary casualty — of the changing climate. The island's durum wheat, the backbone of its pasta industry, is already under stress from prolonged drought and rising temperatures.