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Newly Discovered Fungus Threatens World Wheat Crop
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."
The question isn't whether we need to send John Madden in with some Boom! Fast Actin' Tinactin!, but can we eat this new fungus?
Some fungi are delicious.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Grass
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066154/
Think about it. Right now, one of the major breadbaskets of the Unites States, the Palouse region, is in perfect shape weather-wise for a bumper crop of wheat this year. We do not exactly have a shortage. But overseas they might... AND the dollar is low...
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.
There's a fungus amongus!
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What's the definition of "central Asia"? Is there really "billions of people" there?
A few seconds research would've give you an answer (80 million for the lazy).
I think however that the range of the fungus is far wider than just central Asia. Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia (along with the countries they supply grain to] could be affected, along with the rest of the world if the fungus continues to spread.
New scientist has a better article (from almost a year ago).
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
Great. Among everything else we now have to worry about illegal wheat crossing the border.
While I generally agree with your sentiment, I was surprised to read (in this article) that:So... rust fungus has been less of a problem in recent years, when we've been less diverse. Quite interesting.
(oh, and I now have a new favorite God - Robigus.)
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
> Sound to me like U.S. wheat farmers are going to clean up this year. Actually most US wheat farmers sold their crop for this year long ago. That's one of the reasons wheat prices are already through the roof. Most of the sales out there are people fighting over the small amount of wheat that is still available. Farmers saw $7 wheat prices and sold as fast as they could. Never did they imagine that wheat would go over $10.
According to the NPR interview I heard with some science-type person on this, the monoculture we've bred was resistant to rust, so you would expect to see numbers going down... until a version of the fungus able to overcome that resistance comes along. Which is what has happened here.
I just finished a book on phylloxera, and I find it interesting to see some of the parallels. Apparently 100 years is not enough time to learn from mistakes....
There is no resistance to it. Not a single person has survived exposure to the virus. The few supposed exceptions turned out not to be. The body cannot adjust to it. HIV is a polymorphic virus that mutates almost every replication. There is no evolutionary pressure to be resistant to it, because there is no survival rate. Same as there's no build-up in antibiotic-resistant bacteria when medication is taken correctly and appropriately. Resistant people in Africa or anywhere else is a nice fiction but should be left in Neuromancer.
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That was either the start of something bad or the end of something stupid.
My understanding is that the USDA has a plan to combat this fungus. This involves planting highly resistant wheat in the south during the winter while the northern regions get too cold for the fungus to survive. With no place to take hold in the south and a death zone in the north, the fungus should go away. (source)
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