Australia has been importing semi-dwarf material from the wheat breeding program at CIMMYT (and its precursor the Rockefeller Foundation) in Mexico, since the early 1960s. Although few varieties from CIMMYT have been released directly in Australia, the lines have been used extensively in Australian wheat breeding programs. CIMMYT-based varieties derived from these introductions occupy almost one half of the total area sown to wheat in Australia. From trials results, CIMMYT-based varieties were found to have a yield advantage of 7 per cent over other leading varieties, although there is wide variation between the different States. Using an index of varietal improvement, CIMMYT based varieties were estimated to have increased yields in Australia by an average of 3.6 per cent by 1983, and ranging from 0.3 per cent in Western Australia to 7.2 per cent in Queensland. In monetary terms, the value of the increased production in the period 1974 to 1983 was estimated at $A825 .million (in 1983-84 dollars at a real interest rate of 5 per cent), at an annual average of $A82 million . On the basis of the pedigrees of Australian wheats, about two-thirds of this value can be attributed to the lines from CIMMYT.

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