Designing food for a hotter world
Inside futuristic labs, plants are scanned, stressed and analysed. The aim is to use the results to produce plant strains that can better serve a growing population in a warming world.
Scientists at Wageningen University in the Netherlands are working to create crops that can withstand the effects of climate change. By simulating various environmental conditions such as heat, drought and frost, researchers at the Netherlands Plant Eco-phenotyping Centre (NPEC) are identifying genetic traits that make plants more resilient.
Inside this "gym for plants," thousands of saplings are monitored for color, temperature and photosynthesis changes. Scientists can regulate the temperature, introduce salinity, and simulate night frost. The goal is to fast forward evolution, crossbreeding plants with high yield and robustness to create a resilient offspring. The Dutch government and plant-breeding companies fund this research, with the aim of producing enough food to meet the demands of a growing population and changing agricultural practices.
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