Wheat Breeders: A Quiet Pillar of Sustainable Agriculture
I’m doing a series of posts about why wheat has been an orphan crop. Today I want to talk about UG99 Stem Rust.
In 1999 a new strain of Stem Rust, a severe wheat disease, emerged in Uganda. It was named UG99, and since then it has spread to other wheat growing areas in Africa and Asia but is expected to spread further. It is a serious threat to the global human food supply because it causes severe yield losses.
There have been many great articles, blog postings and websites about this important plant disease, so today I will talk about how I think this situation will play out.
I’ll wager that the worst potential from this disease will NOT actually occur. This is not a casual wager - the health or even survival of millions of poor people around the world is at stake. Some of my wheat breeder friends might not like me to say this (because they legitimately need more funding), but my bet is is still that the breeders will prevail against all odds (and get little credit for it).
I base that qualified optimism on having seen what a remarkable group of scientists called “plant breeders” have been able to achieve in the past. I’m even more encouraged knowing that they have access to some new tools based on biotechnology.
