Lynn

Wheat Crisis: The Next Black Swan?

I read about Wheat Stem Rust in May of 2008 and made the following notes. It reduces the number of seeds that wheat produces and can kill the plant. It crossed the Red Sea into Yemen in Dec 2007. It is currently spreading across Africa, Asia and, most recently, the Middle East. The fungus could spread to the US within 5 years.
It is dormant in the winter and revives in the spring.
On April 2, 2008 the Gates Fdn awarded a $28.6 million grant to Cornell University to combat Wheat Stem Rust. The "Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat" project will bring together 15 institutions from around the world to develop a wheat that is resistant to the stem rust threat.