The Ug99 fungus could wipe out 80% of the world's wheat crops

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/14/science/sci-wheat-rust14

2 1 17 years ago

articles.latimes.com

pyre• 17 years ago

While I want to be concerned if this is a very real threat, I have a hard time getting worked up due largely to the many scares that we have nowadays like 'Swine Flu' and 'Avian Flu' or even the 'Banana Fungus'. (Wikipedia is your friend)

I realize that these things can be very real threats, but the media leeching off of the mass fear surrounding possibilities with such far-reaching consequences really desensitizes people. Such reporting makes it hard to sort out which are real threats and which are not. Not only that, it makes it hard to figure out what the real consequences are if these threats are realized.

Questions like, "How does this affect wheat-related grains such as spelt?" are not presented to the reader. So what happens if wheat production takes a major hit? Will we be able to deal with it? Will other crops pick up the slack? Will grains such as oats, kamut, spelt be unaffected? Are there practical considerations related to growing such alternative grains in different localities (the article does mention that there are many varieties of wheat bred to local conditions)?

The Ug99 fungus could wipe out 80% of the world's wheat crops

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