Plant breeding, artificial fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides meant that wheat production increased by an average 3% a year until the early 1990s.

The title was stretching it somewhat since global wheat production has been increasing.

Wheat production last year was around 75 million tonnes.

That pushed spring wheat production up 13 per cent to 18 million tonnes.

The local economy was based on cotton and wheat production, as well as granite quarrying.