Wheat: Monocrop Under Predictable Threat

by Natasha Chart · 2009-03-18 05:57:00 UTC
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Nature is reporting a new superstrain of wheat rust that overcomes the usual rust resistance traits. (Via the Sierra Club.)

Our over-reliance on wheat and other fairly uniform commodities is yet another symptom of our one-basket agriculture. The totally predictable result of that in a natural ecosystem is successive escalations in virulent disease.

You keep growing a crop in a pest-ridden area, that keeps the disease organism alive. You grow lots of it over large areas, even better ... for the pest.

So, color me unsurprised. And be glad that people like me have gone ahead of you into life after wheat. It's tricky at first, but you'll totally get the hang of it.

Natasha Chart
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