The Anonymous Widower

A New Superwheat

You’d think as a coeliac, I would not be in favour of the new superwheat developed at Cambridge as reported on the BBC.

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.

But I think this is a victory for traditional high-class science. As I understand it, after hearing the scientist on the radio, the combining of the two plants was done using the sort of methods, that have been used for years.  Albeit with some clever seed incubation. No direct manipulation of the genes was involved.

So as this could give a yield increase of 30%, what would happen if these methods were applied to the other staple crops of the world.

Sadly, the problem is that, the Cambridge route doesn’t make any money for the big corporations of this world, who feel that the GM route is much more profitable.

I am not totally against GM, but it has to be used ethically and where it is demonstrated that it the only way to create an important product, such as a new cancer drug.

May 12, 2013 - Posted by AnonW | Business, Food, News, World | Cambridge, Genetics, Science