4 ms·

'Goldmine' collection of wheat from 100 years ago may help feed the world

44 points by akbarnama 2y ago

486sx33 2y ago
I certainly feel like we need to use computing for some better things to benefit humanity 1. A long term human readable storage format that will stand the test of a 1000+ years. 2. A database system that works easily and well to catalog things like the DNA of every living plant and animal A great mandate for the library of congress or the national archives
- asalahli 2y ago
  You might find this interesting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD-Rosetta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD-Rosetta
mistrial9 2y ago
oh of course - more GMO crops is the answer to the urgent crisis of industrial pollution. Write a heart-strings tug article and get it out now! (and call funders since the journalist is likely starving while next to a grocery store today)
- throwaway3306a 2y ago
  Yes, optimization of the technology we use to produce food is exactly the answer.
  - mistrial9 2y ago
    no, there is not a net shortage of food, system-wide. It is easy to spot a naive answer because the vast productivity of basic foodstuff is not widely known, nor intuitive.
    - throwaway3306a 2y ago
      I am well aware that the productivity is not "bad" and that there isn't a net shortage. That doesn't imply we don't need the improvement, or that it won't have a significant impact. I'd refrain from calling people naive. Farmers would call your approach naive as they know that every promile of productivity counts and can make or break their investment. As you said, this is very unintuitive and it's hard to imagine how much can a tiny increase of productivity at the base level change at the output - but it really is a lot.
      - mistrial9 2y ago
        > I'd refrain from calling people naive. agree, that is why I wrote "the answer is naive", not a quality of a person writing the comment.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
mif 2y ago
Hold your horses. I think the title overstates the impact of those old wheat varieties. Yes, genetic diversity is high. But, the reason that today’s wheat is less diverse is only the side effect of one of the most astonishing feasts ever pulled off by a single human: Norman Borlaug. His breeding program in the 1940s was the start of the “Green Revolution“. He’s the guy who saved the billions from starvation. For further reading about his story, I can highly recommend „The Wizard and the Prophet“ by Charles C. Mann [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug [2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34959327 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34959327

44 points by akbarnama 2y ago

I certainly feel like we need to use computing for some better things to benefit humanity 1. A long term human readable storage format that will stand the test of a 1000+ years. 2. A database system that works easily and well to catalog things like the DNA of every living plant and animal A great mandate for the library of congress or the national archives

asalahli 2y ago
You might find this interesting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD-Rosetta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD-Rosetta

mistrial9 2y ago

oh of course - more GMO crops is the answer to the urgent crisis of industrial pollution. Write a heart-strings tug article and get it out now! (and call funders since the journalist is likely starving while next to a grocery store today)

throwaway3306a 2y ago
Yes, optimization of the technology we use to produce food is exactly the answer.
- mistrial9 2y ago
  no, there is not a net shortage of food, system-wide. It is easy to spot a naive answer because the vast productivity of basic foodstuff is not widely known, nor intuitive.
  - throwaway3306a 2y ago
    I am well aware that the productivity is not "bad" and that there isn't a net shortage. That doesn't imply we don't need the improvement, or that it won't have a significant impact. I'd refrain from calling people naive. Farmers would call your approach naive as they know that every promile of productivity counts and can make or break their investment. As you said, this is very unintuitive and it's hard to imagine how much can a tiny increase of productivity at the base level change at the output - but it really is a lot.
    - mistrial9 2y ago
      > I'd refrain from calling people naive. agree, that is why I wrote "the answer is naive", not a quality of a person writing the comment.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

mif 2y ago

Hold your horses. I think the title overstates the impact of those old wheat varieties. Yes, genetic diversity is high. But, the reason that today’s wheat is less diverse is only the side effect of one of the most astonishing feasts ever pulled off by a single human: Norman Borlaug. His breeding program in the 1940s was the start of the “Green Revolution“. He’s the guy who saved the billions from starvation. For further reading about his story, I can highly recommend „The Wizard and the Prophet“ by Charles C. Mann [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug [2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34959327 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34959327