Wheat Revolution: New Varieties Promise to Feed the World
Wheat Revolution: New Varieties Promise to Feed the World
In an attempt to combat the rising issues of global warming and, therefore, a higher food demand, scientists have discovered that wheat- the world's most crucial grain-is going to require more nitrogen fertilizer in the future because of global warming. A new study released by the Technical University of Munich in collaboration with France's National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment seems to contradict earlier expectations that even though new varieties of wheat are very efficient in using nitrogen, they will nonetheless increase the fertilizer needed by their production due to rising temperatures.
Published recently in the journal Nature Plants, a study has revealed research where new wheat varieties provide better yields and nitrogen efficiency, but new wheat varieties cannot compensate for environmental and economical costs associated with fertilizer use.
Improvement in Nitrogen Use Efficiency by the New Wheat Varieties
Wheat is a staple crop for billions of people worldwide, but to raise it on an industrial scale requires comparatively enormous amounts of nitrogen fertilizer. Both ecological and economic costs result when nitrogen fertilizer is applied over that optimal level. Too little nitrogen and actual yield potential is not realized; too much, and nitrogen applications have caused environmental damage as excess fertilizers have made their way into water systems and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
The new wheat varieties studied here can produce up to 16% more than their current counterparts in the same amounts of nitrogen fertilizer under today's climatic conditions. This would translate to an improvement of 16% in nitrogen efficiency, which could reduce the environment impact from wheat farming.
These new varieties require less applied nitrogen, converting more of the applied nitrogen into crop yield. This would mean that farmers may obtain the equivalent yields without increasing the quantity of nitrogen applied, thus the ecological footprint of the current production level is smaller.
More Global Increases in Temperatures Increase Nitrogen Demand
While these new varieties have much promise in terms of yield and nitrogen productivity improvement, the total global warming is shown instead to increase the total nitrogen demand. For this study, the researchers made use of five experimental fields that represented major high-yield regions for wheat-producing areas. The researchers simulated wheat growth under three different climate scenarios: the existing climate, an increase of 1°C, and a more extreme rise of 4.8°C.
The results unequivocally reveal that in order to push yields to maximum levels in light of increasing global temperatures, more nitrogen will be needed for wheat crops. Even though the new varieties are better at using applied nitrogen, they will need more fertilizer as the temperatures increase-highly challenging, as too much nitrogen can result in a legion of problems related to the environment, from soil damage to water pollution and increased greenhouse gas emissions.
Economic Consequences of Nitrogen Use Increase
Another significant focus of the study lies in the economic impact of increasing nitrogen fertilizer use. Nitrogen happens to be an expensive input that, for many farmers, especially from developing regions, could turn out to be too expensive to spend on additional fertilizer to optimize the yield under a warming climate. This means the output cost of wheat is expected to go up, leading to possible implications for farms as well as for consumers.
As these researchers note, while greater utilization of nitrogen will enhance yields, the consequences are severe enough to make it less accessible to resource-poor farmers, and can even exacerbate the food price crisis. Such an economically real threat is a severe concern to food security, particularly in the developing regions where wheat is a staple for diets and whose peasants suffer under economic strain.
Critical Questions: A Systemic Approach to Food Security
This is critical but only represents a first step forward in the developments of new, more nitrogen-efficient wheat varieties. Many other critical challenges lie ahead in ensuring that face food security, environmental sustainability, and economical feasibility. These challenges cannot be treated in isolation but require a systemic approach-an agricultural science input, environmental protection, socio-economic considerations, and policymaking.
"We can bridge the food gap for the next 20 to 30 years through better selective breeding of wheat varieties," says Senthold Asseng. However, new varieties alone will not be enough to meet the incompatible objectives of global food security, environmental protection, and cost-effectiveness.
The scientists appeal for much more research and breeding of wheat backed by crop-friendly policies of sustainable agriculture that ensure responsible use of nitrogen. They appeal for this approach that balances crop genetics, environment, and economy, meeting the increasing needs of food for the world in the fight against climate change.
Conclusion
TUM and INRAE highlight a very pivotal juncture where climate change meets agriculture and food security. Advances in wheat breeding give a dose of optimism while crop yields are hope to increase, but at the same time, global warming allows new challenges to arise, especially in the form of increasing nitrogen requirements. Major negatives in such fluctuations in demand for wheat would have to be dealt with by creating an understanding of the policymakers, the researchers, and the farmers whereby production is driven to meet the demand of a growing world without devastation of the environment and with increasing financial viability.
Source: Technical University of Munich (TUM), Nature Plants