Suddenly plant breeding is sexy. In recent months, soaring prices of food, coupled with fears of runaway climate change, have brought calls for a renaissance in agricultural research — to boost crop yields and deliver new varieties that can stand the heat and drought of a greenhouse world.
The world needs a repeat of the advances made during the last green revolution a generation ago, which doubled global food output.
But the truth is that this new revolution is hobbled before it starts. Decades of underinvestment since the last green revolution have left the world’s crops in genetic meltdown. In many cases, the feedstocks for a new push for plant breeding simply aren’t there.
Enlarge image
CIMMYT
Seed at the CIMMYT Seed Health Laboratory in Mexico is cleaned of dust and chaff, then dried to keep it viable.