Newly Discovered Fungus Threatens World Wheat Crop 236
RickRussellTX writes "The UN reports that a variety of the rust fungus originally detected in Uganda in 1999 has already spread as far north as Iran, threatening wheat production across its range. The fungus infects wheat stems and affects 80% of wheat varieties, putting crops at risk and threatening the food sources for billions of people across central Asia. Although scientists believe they can develop resistant hybrids, the fungus is moving much faster than anticipated and resistant hybrids may still be years away. Meanwhile, national governments in the path of the fungus are telling folks that there is nothing to worry about."
Why Yes, We Have Some Resistant Hybrids Right Here (Score:1, Insightful)
No Blade of Grass...? (Score:5, Insightful)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066154/ [imdb.com]
panic merchants seek attention, news a 11 (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:panic merchants seek attention, news a 11 (Score:5, Insightful)
Sound to me like U.S. wheat farmers are going to clean up this year.
Just send everything one way, okay, guys? We don't want that fungus over here!
But since the apocalyptic scenario has been brought up: what a great illustration of the fact that we have WAY too much of our food crops being grown as huge tracts of monoculture, often all the same crop and all the same species. What a great target for famine-causing organisms.
Re:Nobody (Score:1, Insightful)
A large portion of the population of africa will be immune to it in under 100 years. And it will still be virulent to the rest of the world -- mostly because the mortality rate in africa has been very high so there is an extreme selective pressure.
Any population... bacteria... humans... deer... will suffer large losses but the survivors will repopulate at a very high rate.
The loss of food is probably more dangerous since we might exterminate ourselves fighting over that last slice of toast.
Re:Strangely the brits (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:panic merchants seek attention, news a 11 (Score:5, Insightful)
I just finished a book on phylloxera [wikipedia.org], and I find it interesting to see some of the parallels. Apparently 100 years is not enough time to learn from mistakes....
Re:Strangely the brits (Score:3, Insightful)
Starvation in Africa is a political - not resource - problem. Starvation ANYWHERE is a political problem. Food is there, it can be grown, it could be delivered. But some tyrants prefer to starve their population...
Re:Billions in Central Asia? (Score:2, Insightful)
Given the ever increasing rate of change, somehow 1999 doesn't cut it for me...
Not even close to true (Score:3, Insightful)
Now
Re:Strangely the brits (Score:2, Insightful)
We fsck with biotoxins, dna splicing and nature in general to seek a better breed, but care not for the delicate balance that must be preserved. What diversity of species do we have compared now to 200, 300 years ago?
The ecosystems can be so complex that we struggle to understand them, yet we do all these things knowingly that we are abusing delicate balances that should not be upset. The saddest things is that 'we know what we do' and continue to do it.
We have a responsibility as sentient beings to this planet and we are fsking it into the ground. No sadly we reap what we sow. Cause and effect
Re:Immunity is fiction. (Score:5, Insightful)
And then of course there is pressure for being immune to HIV itself. Wether it has developed in any human yet or not, that's unknown I guess, but if it does (by random mutation) happend, then definitely it's an evolutionary advantage and is likely to spread over generations.
Re:Immunity is fiction. (Score:5, Insightful)
The latest information I had, was that there were some connection between the bubonic plague (Black Death) and AIDS resistance:
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2005/01/66198 [wired.com] :
An estimated 1 percent of people descended from Northern Europeans are virtually immune to AIDS infection, with Swedes the most likely to be protected.
Re:It's okay (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It's okay (Score:5, Insightful)
Hemp is not some magical crop. It has many uses, but they're often way overstated, and other crops, like kenaf, are superior in most respects. It's just another crop, one that could be useful, but has unfortunately gotten caught up in politics. Yet every time the topic comes up, you get these druggies who treat it like it's the Second Coming of Christ, and then act all taken aback when you point out that it's not exactly the best choice in most applications. Even some very common products today are superior than their hemp equivalents -- for example, plain 'old manila rope, made from a type of banana leaf. Just as strong, but doesn't rot nearly as easily as hemp rope does (hemp rope is particularly insidious when it comes to rot, as it tends to rot from the inside out and wick water along so that the whole rope can rot). Or take the other "miracle" thing often mentioned, hemp oil. Yes, it also has many uses. It's also not a very thermally stable oil, and is somewhat prone to going rancid.
Can you see how one can get sick of the politics-driven promotion of hemp as a cure-all?
Re:It's called INFLATION (Score:2, Insightful)
The wheat price is high because some food crops are being used for ethanol instead, so there's less food.
The wheat price is also high because their is higher demand as China (Asia) moves like Russia did in the 70s to more meat in the average diet, so they need more grain to feed to animals. 10 calories of grain is needed to make 1 calorie of meat, IIRC.
You see flour shortages in Pakistan, and massive queues and shortages, and that's not because of the USA dollar.
It all comes back to the oil price, and the available energy per capita.