SuperOrganics

In China, researcher Deng Qiyun, inspired by McCouch’s papers, used molecular markers while crossbreeding a wild relative of rice with his country’s best hybrid to achieve a 30 percent jump in yield – an increase well beyond anything gained during the Green Revolution. Who will feed China? Deng will. In India, the poorest of the poor can’t afford irrigated land, so they grow unproductive varieties of dryland rice. By some estimates, Indian rice production must double by 2025 to meet the needs of an exploding population. One researcher in Bangalore is showing the way. H. E. Shashidhar has cataloged the genes of the dryland varieties and used DNA markers to guide the breeding toward a high-yield super-rice. In West Africa, smart breeders have created Nerica, a bountiful rice that combines the best traits of Asian and African parents. Nerica spreads profusely in early stages to smother weeds. It’s disease-resistant, drought-tolerant, and contains up to 31 percent more protein than either parent. [via Wired http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.05/food.html?pg=1&topic=food&topic_set= ]

This article is definitely worth reading for anyone interested in how we will feed the world and the interplay between genetically modified foods and specialized breeding programs. What I find exciting is the prospect of returning many of our basic vegetables to have qualities that we have lost through mass agriculture, and enhancing core staple foods such as rice with nutrients that help heal poor areas and make the crops more resilient to disease without the use of pesticides.