Exotic Wheat DNA Helps Breed ‘Climate-Proof’ Crops — ScienceDaily, 10th, January 2023 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/01/230110151038.htm.

 

The article explains another crop that underwent genetic modification that allows us to make wheat climate-proof. Similar to the last article, because of climate change and record high temperatures, a lot of crops, specifically wheat ones, I’ve seen a large decrease in yield. The hot sun evaporates water more quickly, causing less actual absorption by the plant. This leads to less efficient photosynthesis and respiration, causing less growth, and therefore less yield. Researchers have discovered a type of weed that has genetic modifications from a long time ago, which makes the week more resistant to heat changes like this. It’s resulting in 50% higher yields than those without the modification, making the modified seeds a hot commodity.

 

I think that while this is a really amazing development that will allow us to feed our population more easily, there is definitely a high risk that comes with having a certain type of a crop that is better than the others. I think there’s a decent chance a company will put a patent of some sort on that type of seed, or have a monopoly on seeds with that genetic modification. This could lead to an imbalance in the market, and result in local farmers having to struggle the same way we saw local farmers struggling in some of the short films we watched.