Good establishment lays the foundations for wheat yield. Here, we have used the term ‘establishment’ to encompass development and growth prior to the elongation of the main stem. We describe how the seedling root system establishes and then outline how four agronomic practices (time and depth of sowing, seeding rate and soil moisture conditions) affect the initial growth of the plant. We present a case study from Australia on how embryo size and seed mass affects early growth, and conclude with some recent ideas as to how root systems might be optimized in different soils to increase production.