Climate Change Effects Fought With Ancient Seeds In Mexico

Yahoo! News:

More than 500 years after Spanish priests brought wheat seeds to Mexico to make wafers for the Catholic Mass, those seeds may bring a new kind of salvation to farmers hit by global warming.

Read the whole story: Yahoo! News

Comments

[maxwells]

06:19 PM on 09/20/2010

Some lecturer in Vancouver recently said that wheat and rice have only a narrow range of temperatures in which they can grow optimally, which global warming will impact. Any truth to that? What's the skinny on this?

[DocSkull]

01:18 PM on 09/21/2010

"Some lecturer in Vancouver recently said that wheat and rice have only a narrow range of temperatures in which they can grow optimally, which global warming will impact."

That is true. For example, American wheat production is likely to move further north. That may mean a net gain for Canada, but an overall loss in total production. Additional concerns are supplies of fresh water for irrigation and the suitability of the soils in the new regions.

[Tom Joad]

09:23 AM on 09/19/2010

...it's been a very very hot summer where I live. Temperatures this week forecast to be 10-15 degrees above normal for this time of year...

[missouriwatcher]

03:39 PM on 09/18/2010

Genetic variety is best; way too many of our crops nowadays are a one-size-fits-all.  Should a plant disease attack, it can devastate the entire crop.

[DocSkull]

08:53 AM on 09/19/2010

"Genetic variety is best; way too many of our crops nowadays are a one-size-fits-all."

So true. Not only do our crops have little diversity with which to withstand new attacks, the pests and diseases which damage food crops have broad genetic diversity from which new attacks evolve.

[missouriwatcher]

02:03 PM on 09/19/2010

Exactly.  It is dangerous enough to depend on monocultural plantation-style food production.  To limit the genetic variability of crops is flirting with famine.

[JTCan]

08:05 PM on 09/17/2010

Why can't they just use the seed like it is instead of changing it? Don't they get that the way it is keeps it resistant. When they start changing the seeds they create what we have today....hybrids that can easily get wiped out by some disease or condition. Quit messing with a good thing.

[HazelPethigFan]

08:35 PM on 09/17/2010

Oh come on...


We've been developing wheat FOR disease and drought resistance for many decades. Check out Norman Borlaug's work. He developed wheat that saved 1 BILLION people from starvation. He won the Nobel Peace prize for it. Stop assuming everything modern in agriculutre is bad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug

[DocSkull]

10:31 AM on 09/18/2010

"He developed wheat that saved 1 BILLION people from starvation... Stop assuming everything modern in agriculutre is bad."

The "green revolution" used GMOs to replace traditional crops which had an excellent fit to local conditions. The foreign crops grew fast and large but depleted resources and depended on expensive chemical inputs. Agrarians were placed in debt and the unpredictable boom and bust production of the new crops ruined many agrarians. The green revolution was an attempt to use cheap, low quality food as a treatment for the symptoms of the disease of long-term wealth inequality. It produced more of a few crops, but it hasn't cured poverty. However, the suppliers of engineered seeds and chemicals do well enough to control government agricultural policies. For example, Monsanto managed to place a lawyer on the U.S. Supreme Court and affiliated people occupy many of the highest offices of the Department of Agriculture.

[mothergrace]

08:42 PM on 09/17/2010

I agree. If this wheat has natural abilities to fend off drought and heat, the only reason to give them a quick spin through the lab is to make something that belongs to someone so they can sell it.

When are the people who support this junk going to realize that thinking something can be made in a lab that is as good as something that has evolved through trial and error for certain characteristics is like re-inventing the wheel.

[HazelPethigFan]

09:14 PM on 09/17/2010

Are you saying people like Norman Borlaug developed disease resistant wheat for poor countries just to get rich? He never got rich off his work. And you are actually saying this "lab" developed wheat is junk?

The wheat Borlaug developed saved ONE BILLION people from starvation.

[drkazmd65]

02:35 PM on 09/20/2010

Incorrect. Pasing such resistant varieties through a breeding program serves to integrate the genetics from this line into other lines with better agronomic qualites, perhaps better nutiritional qualities, and into lines with resistance to plant pathogens that the initial landraces might not have themselves resistance to.

Breeding might lead to such abuses, but not inherently.

[CaptianTom]

06:26 PM on 09/17/2010

Interesting that old wheat seed could be used again.

[drkazmd65]

02:37 PM on 09/20/2010

My guess - the wheat seed itself is quite new - just from an old, disfavored, not widely used landrace only grown prior to its rediscovery in a limited region of Mexico.

[DocSkull]

03:54 PM on 09/20/2010

Agreed. Seed doesn't remain viable without special storage. The article is probably describing current crops that originated in Spain.

[jcabowers]

04:53 PM on 09/17/2010

A creative use for some archaeology! Love it.