Crop Wild Relatives
Fast-Tracking Food Security Using Space Science
Plant breeders developing new crop varieties are finding success after shifting their gaze from the fields to the stars.
Scientists at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Rabat,...
7 Apr 2021
7 Apr 2021

Reflections on the Dasgupta Review
Humanity is destroying biodiversity at an accelerating rate, and a major reason is agriculture.
This is not a new revelation, but it is perhaps surprising, and welcome, that it should be repeated, with thorough documentation, by...
9 Feb 2021
9 Feb 2021
Battling Biotic Stress in Farmers' Fields
Crops are often threatened by a range of unfriendly organisms, including various kinds of bacteria, fungi, insects and weeds. These plant predators hamper efforts to adapt agriculture to climate change because they often thrive in...
2 Feb 2021
2 Feb 2021
Crop Science Special Issue Shows Why Crops Need to Get Wild
When the Growing Gets Tough, the Tough Get Pre-breeding
Much like dogs have wolves, our familiar crops have undomesticated relatives growing in the wild, which often have useful traits not found in their cousins grown on farms. As...
25 Jan 2021
25 Jan 2021
Let’s Meet Up for Tea
A global consortium on tea genetic resources will benefit tea-growing countries around the world, according to Professor Liang Chen, curator of the world’s largest collection of tea diversity and co-author of the Crop Trust’s Glob...
20 Jan 2021
20 Jan 2021
US Crop Wild Relatives Desperately Need Conserving
From sunflowers to blueberries, cranberries and blackberries to pecans and squash, the United States is home to a variety of widely eaten crops and their wild relatives. Unfortunately, many of these wild cousins of familiar crops...
18 Dec 2020
18 Dec 2020
All Hail the Rise of the Climate-Smart Potato
Plus, 5 facts about the humble root vegetable’s extraordinary potential
Sandra Cordon | Global Landscapes Forum
The potential of the potato has only just begun to be realized.
Some 368 million metric tons of potatoes were...
19 Aug 2020
19 Aug 2020
Potatoes for a Changing Climate
Climate change is reducing potato yields in some important production areas due to more drought, heat, and diseases like late blight and bacterial wilt.
Our partners from the International Potato Center (CIP) are working with the...
23 Mar 2020
The Last Crop Before the Desert
“I’ve never seen barley looking this great before!” El Kbir Safraoui couldn’t hold back his excitement about the crop growing in his fields. And he had seen a lot of barley in his lifetime of farming in central Morocco.
Safraoui...
3 Mar 2020
Wild About Bananas
Hunting for Drought Tolerance in Papua New Guinea
Bananas were first domesticated in Southeast Asia, sometime between 5,000 and 8,000 BCE. They have since spread widely around the world. India alone consumes a quarter of the...
12 Nov 2019