3-11 FB Plants Adapt

Will farmers be forced to plant bananas instead of potatoes in Idaho.  With climate change, you may think it's necessary, but hold on, there may be a scientific solution on the way...I’m David Sparks.

You just heard me ask if farmers will be forced to plant bananas instead of potatoes in Idaho because of climate change. That actually was a tongue and cheek question sent to me by one of our listeners via e-mail. But he used the humor to point out some important research. A Purdue University scientist has found genetic evidence of how some plants adapt to live in unfavorable conditions, a finding he believes could one day be used to help food crops survive in new or changing environments. Dr. David Salt, a professor of horticulture, noticed several years ago that a variant of a plant he was researching had evolved. Salt said crops grown around the world could be affected, possibly negatively, by climate change. It may become important to identify mechanisms to adapt plants to drought conditions, higher temperatures or changes in soil nutrition. He believes identifying genetic mechanisms of how plants naturally adapt to their environments will be key to solving those problems.