Among the changing climate's greatest threats to humanity is its potential to impact our food supply. Fortunately, scientists are making headway in addressing that issue with extreme-weather-resistant crops.
A recently published study by the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences looked at the potential for genome editing to boost tomato and rice crops' climate resilience. The results were encouraging, and it's believed that the techniques will translate to more than just tomatoes and rice.
With the global temperature rising, crops are under increasing duress. The IGDB study states that a rise of just 2 degrees Celsius during the growing season can result in up to a 13% yield loss. That can have a dramatic impact on food security around the planet.
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Not enough time ⏳ Add that global crop production is already insufficient for our quickly growing population, and it becomes clear that we need a solution.
While the ideal answer to this issue is to stop the climate crisis in its tracks, it's simply more realistic to adapt to shifting weather.
There's an old saying that goes something like, "You can't change the wind, but you can adjust the sails." That's where extreme-weather-resistant crops come in.
Without getting into the weeds, the IGDB team used genome-editing tools to promote greater heat resistance in a gene critical to crop growth. This resulted in significant improvement in yields and reduction in losses for crops under heat stress. Not only that, but tomato crops under normal conditions also showed significantly improved yields.
This development can be massive for the global food supply. Increasingly extreme weather and the expanding population will no doubt present agricultural challenges across the planet. But with crops specifically designed for handling increased stress, we should be able to adapt with greater ease.
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