When a team of researchers set loose a buzzing horde of Hessian flies on 20,000 seedlings in a Kansas greenhouse, they made a discovery that continues to ripple from Midwestern wheat fields to the rolling hills that surround the battered Syrian city of Aleppo. The seeds once stored in a seed bank outside of that now largely destroyed city could end up saving United States wheat from the disruptions triggered by climate change โ and look likely to, soon enough, make their way into the foods that Americans eat.
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Rising temperatures are already leading to drops in Midwestern crop yields that could, under current medium and high emissions scenarios, lead to furtherย drops of as much as 4 percent per year.ย In the heart of U.S. cereal and grain country,ย new pests and diseasesย are following the hot and dry conditions northward โ and frequently overwhelming the ability of agricultural chemicals to battle them off. In response, scientists are seeking sources of natural resistance โ and finding them in Syria, in the heart of the Fertile Crescent, the birthplace of domesticated agriculture.
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Read full, original post:ย How Seeds from War-Torn Syria Could Help Save American Wheat
