The world population is growing rapidly, requiring ever more food, but the amount of cultivable land is limited. It’s an even greater challenge in the face of climate change and diseases that affect our crops that are also rapidly evolving.”But plant breeding is a slow process. Developing new kinds of crops — higher yield, more nutritious, drought- and disease-resistant — can take a decade or more using t raditional breeding techniques. Dr. Hickey’s team has been working on “speed breeding,” tightly controlling light and temperature to send plant growth into overdrive. This enables researchers to harvest seeds and start growing the next generation of crops sooner.

Source: International New York Times June 17, 2019 16:52 UTC