As you look over the field, the first thing that catches your eyes is the varying heights of the wheat plants. There are giants standing out and dwarfs somewhat hidden in-between. Then you notice different colours, shades of green and yellow. You detect ears (the grain-bearing tip parts of the stem of a cereal plant) with awns (bristle-like appendages) and without, long ones and short ones – awns, that is to say, and also ears. Everything varies to certain degrees in this wheat field. Because this is not a “normal” wheat field. It is something very special with a particular name: a composite cross population. A composite cross population (CCP) is a genetic pool of descendants from a multitude of varieties. Do you think it could perform better in a more natural, heterogeneous environment like in an agroforestry system?