Next time you bite into your soy and quinoa whole grain toast, spare a thought for your future self.

With the world's population estimated to reach 9.6 billion by 2050, global crop yields must double by then, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations has warned.

The phenomobile: a high tech buggy designed and built by the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility in Canberra which uses lasers, thermal imaging and light reflected from the crop to rapidly measure growth, photosynthesis and stress responses of wheat in the field. Credit:CSIRO

To ensure you are still devouring that same breakfast in 35 years, a team of Australian researchers is contributing to a G20 nations plan to make more energy efficient wheat and ultimately raise the genetic yield potential of wheat by up to 50 per cent.

"Food security has underpinned a lot of conflict in the world. If you go back to the Arab Spring, the very first signs started when food prices rose," said researcher Professor Barry Pogson​ from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology.