Word: skovmand
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...Bent Skovmand is not exactly a household name, but he has more to do with the welfare of the earth's 5 billion people than many heads of state. As a plant breeder at CIMMYT, the internationally funded agricultural research station in El Batan, Mexico, he spends his days in silent battle with threats to the world's wheat crop. Recently Skovmand discovered a rare strain of wheat from eastern Turkey that is resistant to the Russian aphid, an invader that has so far cost American farmers $300 million. By using the Turkish strain to develop hearty new hybrid wheats...
Plant breeders have used this genetic diversity to help fuel the green revolution and keep agricultural production ahead of population growth. But as the raw material of the revolution disappears, the food supply becomes more vulnerable to catastrophe. Skovmand, for one, is not optimistic about the prospects for the coming decade. "The world has become complacent about food," he says. "In the 1970s the surprise was that India could feed itself. In the coming years the surprise may be that India can no longer feed itself...
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