Cambridge-based scientists develop 'superwheat'

[dipsydoodle]

British scientists say they have developed a new type of wheat which could increase productivity by 30%.

The Cambridge-based National Institute of Agricultural Botany has combined an ancient ancestor of wheat with a modern variety to produce a new strain.

In early trials, the resulting crop seemed bigger and stronger than the current modern wheat varieties.

It will take at least five years of tests and regulatory approval before it is harvested by farmers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22498274

NB The process required no genetic modification of the crops.

[Javaman]

1. It's fiber can kick your ass! nt

[NickB79]

2. "Required no genetic modification"

Um, hybridization IS a form of genetic modification, in that the genes of the offspring have been modified through crossbreeding between two different strains. It's just not one that requires lab equipment to facilitate.

[truebluegreen]

3. Every time there is a breakthrough in agriculture

the primary result is more people...

Just sayin'

[GliderGuider]

4. That's my thought as well. It's a positive feedback loop.

More food => More people => More food => More people => ...

Population activists think we can break the feedback loop by convincing people not to have more kids, even though there's enough food and material comforts to permit it. I think we can slow, but not stop the rate of increase. Turning the population curve negative voluntarily is going to be both politically and psychologically impossible, IMO.

Can we break that feedback loop on the food side without hurting anyone? I personally don't think so.

So we can't reverse population growth, and we can't stop the growth of the food supply because there are already hungry people in the world, but if we keep producing more food the population will automatically keep growing. Can you spell "hooped"?

[Yo_Mama]

5. This isn't true any more

Starvation has become less and less of a population control mechanism.

[stuntcat]

6. my first though too

We've figured out over and over how to produce more food. It means the same thing all the time.

And meanwhile 40,000 people will continue dying of starvation every day, while we feed millions of mass-farmed animals way more than it would take to save their lives. That's my species! #humanity