World wheat crops threatened by disease, writes scientist who won Nobel Prize for work in the field

At a time when global food prices are rising, wheat crops are threatened with a disease that could wipe them out, but the Bush administration wants to cut research that could head off a calamity, Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug writes in The New York Times.

"The time could not be worse for an epidemic of stem rust in the world’s wheat crops," Borlaug writes Borlaug, a professor of international agriculture at Texas A&M. "Scientists must quickly turn their attention to replacing almost all of the commercial wheat grown in the world today. This will require a commitment from many nations, especially the United States, which has lately neglected its role as a leader in agricultural science." He says the administration wants to eliminate support of international agriculture research centers and make "significant financial cuts" for U.S. research centers, and "This shocking short-sightedness goes against the interests not only of American wheat farmers and consumers but of all humanity."

Borlaug, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for developing high-yielding, rust-resistant wheat varieties, says new strains of rust "are much more dangerous than those that, 50 years ago, destroyed as much as 20 percent of the American wheat crop. Today’s lush, high-yielding wheat fields on vast irrigated tracts are ideal environments for the fungus to multiply, so the potential for crop loss is greater than ever." (Read more)