In the News: Return to the Wild Crops

Fig.1. Wild turkeys in Oklahoma (Credit: Larry Smith via Flickr, 2015)

For this Thanksgiving, researchers are turning to wild animal and crop relatives to improve biodiversity. From smartphones to frozen seeds, read more about how new technology will preserve agriculture in a warming world: 

• Archaeological samples and ancient DNA show that the turkey has a long history in the Americas, but traveled to Europe before it was a Thanksgiving staple: “Your Thanksgiving Turkey Is A Quintessentially American Bird: An Immigrant,” Smithsonian Magazine (24 November 2015) 

• Climate change, financial woes, and regional violence threaten our ability to protect food security. Gene banks offer a home to preserve and study biodiversity for the coming centuries: “Breakfast In Post-Apocalypse America: Inside Colorado’s Fort Knox of Food,” Newsweek (19 November 2015)

• How do you fight crop disease in the 21st century? These researchers created a smartphone app with 50,000 open-access photos of crop diseases to give farmers immediate access to information: “Smartphones To Battle Crop Disease,” EurekAlert! (24 November 2015)

• For sunflower scientists, the ‘unknowns’ of ancient, wild plants provide a way to save modern crops: “Seeking Crop Elders,” Earth Island Journal (23 November 2015)