MAX FACTS
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Study Calls Crop Diversity Crisis in
United States a Myth
USDA Scientists Develop New
Rice Strains
USDA scientists working in collaboration with researchers from the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines have
developed several new strains of rice in an attempt to supplement the
traditional long-grain variety currently grown on up to 75 per cent of rice
acreage in the United States.
Researchers helped develop JES, an aromatic, soft-cooking, long-grain
rice suited for the market now predominantly filled by imports. Scientists
are attempting to develop rice cultivars that possess the specific qualities
required for certain value-added markets.
(Source: sciencedaily.com)
30
Maximum Yield USA | January 2012
A forthcoming study by a University of Illinois professor calls the crop diversity
crisis in the United States a myth, saying that overall varietal diversity of vegetable crops and apples in the United States has actually increased over the
past 100 years, despite constant media warnings to the contrary.
Law professor Paul Heald and his associates studied thousands of
commercially available varieties of 42 vegetable crops from 1903 to 2004,
finding an overall increase in species diversity rather than the crop diversity
crisis the researchers had expected their
study to confirm.
“We came to this with the
exact same preconceptions
as everyone else, but we
couldn’t ignore facts that
were smacking us in the face,”
said Heald, who also noted
that a lack of choice in the
fruit and vegetable section
of some grocery stores might
be creating the impression that
there’s a diversity crisis.
(Source: sciencedaily.com)