Wheat Is in Trouble. Can Science Save It?

[@JeffreyFlory]

I am an Invasive Species Specialist. You mention @ 1:38 about the US eradication effort on barberry. To be precise, their effort 50+ years ago was against Common Barberry (Berberis vulgaris). The image you show at 1:38 however is actually Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii) and is not the species the US targeted 50+ years ago. Also, it has been scientifically determined that Common Barberry is a host to Black Stem Rust that impacted wheat crops 50+ years ago. You can read about this on the Minnesota Department of Agriculture's website about Common Barberry. Japanese Barberry is not a host of any wheat rusts that are present in the US. MDA is however looking into if the hybrid of Japanese and Common Barberries that I was detecting around Duluth, MN can be a host to Black Stem Rust. I understand that there is a lot of information out there and that it is difficult to find all of it and tease out false information as well. It is also important to not blanket a genus (barberry) as a suspect for spreading disease when a specific species (not the genus) was determined to be a host. It is also important to show the correct image of the species you are discussing.

[@owlbighead5620]

Thank you for information.

[@gabbyn978]

This is odd. In central Europe, exactly this 'dangerous reservoir' barberry is sold by garden centers as a robust plant that you can use to line your estate with. In the 1960ies we children loved to walk over the low curbs of the front yards in our quarter, and several owners reacted by planting these barberries (they are very prickly) to keep us off. Right on the other side, we had agriculture. Sure, the farmers used fungicides, but I never noticed an unusual colour even at the edge of the fields.

[@JeffreyFlory]

Hi Gabby, there is a lot of information I am lacking with your inquiry. You are saying that Barberry was planted in your neighborhood next to wheat fields, but which species? Some parasites/diseases are "generalists" with a loose definition. For example, Cedar Apple Rust in the US can only infect Eastern Red Cedar but for its alternate host, it is able to infect apples, crabapples, hawthorns, and quince. Regarding Barberries in the US, after our discovery of Common Barberry being an alternative host to Black Stem Rust, research is now required to vet barberries nurseries are able to sell in the US, so Japanese Barberry (B. thunbergii) and Korean Barberry (B. koreana) were tested and found to not be a host to the wheat rust, so are allowed to be sold in the US. Not knowing which Barberry species was planted during your childhood, I am unable to discuss why it was allowed to be planted near the wheat fields. The MDA website I had previously mentioned said that Common Barberry has naturalized throughout Europe, so potentially, it was deemed too costly by European counties to try to eradicate Common Barberry and the cost of preventing lost wheat yields with applying fungicides could be on the farmers (or a government program could be paying for the application costs, I do not know). This is the case with Cedar Apple Rust in the US. We are not actively trying to eradicate our native tree, Eastern Red Cedar, to protect apple orchards. Instead, the farmer could either apply fungicides on their apple trees or they could work with their neighbors to remove Eastern Red Cedar from nearby properties to reduce the chances of infecting their apple trees.

[@JeffreyFlory]

A side note: In the US, Japanese Barberry has escaped cultivation and has become very invasive, taking over our forests. Researches in Connecticut discovered that these dense infestations in our forests increased the rate of Lyme's Disease in both Deer Mice and Deer Ticks, which threatens people's safety and health. When I found out about this, I informed my contacts at the MN Dept. of Ag. and they in turn let the MN Health Dept. investigate this. They found similar results with Lyme's Disease rates much higher where Japanese Barberry had invaded.

[@CliffordDeer]

Ermmm

[@satriaamiluhur622]

I live in region that primarily consume rice and it's crazy to see how diverse this grain is; white rice, red rice, brown rice, black rice, also glutinous rice. The red and brown variety in particular are cooked during special occasions, like religious events or the childbirth. And i wish the grain stays diverse that way

[@RamonInNZ]

They were but the trend to mono-culture with the wheat industry started hundreds of years ago - primarily driven by the need to have higher yields!

[@petercharalampopoulos7180]

Fun fact rice is also known to help unlock full human psycic potential in rats

[@henrygonzales9666]

​@@petercharalampopoulos7180What does that mean?

[@AnshumanKantiBose]

​@@henrygonzales9666 it means he's a clown. Ignore him.

[@miles67733]

@@petercharalampopoulos7180human psychic potential? In rats? Can I have hawk eye potential or gorilla strength potential?

[@ashrad648]

Well we better start training Matthew McConaughey to fly a spaceship....

[@cavemanindustries5102]

I just watched interstellar and was thinking the same thing

[@cg_pizza]

​@@cavemanindustries5102 the movie is amazing right

[@Royce16727]

We should have that contingency plan ready ahead of time.

[@meeponinthbit3466]

​@@cg_pizza you and I clearly have different definitions of "amazing". The underlying problem and proposed solution just doesn't work for me. There's just too much bad science and missing details/logic. I've got the same problem with Tenet too. Glad you and others could enjoy it though.

[@cg_pizza]

@@meeponinthbit3466 it's a hollywood movie don't expect anything from them and you'll reseve everything

[@Adventurealliancekerala]

A fifth of global calories under threat? This is why investing in agricultural science is so critical.

[@badabing3391]

it would be nice if the government would just delete those patents monsanto has

[@notmegan8799]

it's worse than that. a similar disease is affecting rice which is another 23% of calories

[@chrisfleming701]

@@notmegan8799 as a farmer I can tell you there are diseases that threaten EVERY crop. There always are and always will be, that’s just the way nature works.

[@Joedirtsoilwork970]

Wheat being under threat but no mention of Monsanto is like saying We have a big problem with man eating bears but not talking about the new trend of covering yourself in honey and sleeping outside

[@RobKaiser_SQuest]

FWIW Monsanto hasn't existed as a company in 6 years, they were bought out by Bayer in 2018. So it'd be worthwhile to research their practices, or one of their competitors like Syngenta or Corteva.

[@kyosukeplays]

An ad free episode? Thank you!

[@Royce16727]

As far as I understand, the tendency towards monoculture isn't helping things either…

[@CasparOBrien]

What would you consider to be a monoculture?

[@Royce16727]

@ as far as I know, the agricultural diversity has decreased from hundreds of varieties of different food crops down to less than 40. We like what we like, I guess. Not great for pest resistance, though.

[@enzo3237]

Sadly, farmers can't grow everything and have more variety because Governments decide which crops get subsidized. It's also why Corn is grown so widely in USA because it is subsidized but many other things such as fruits and vegetables aren't. This makes local grown vegetables and fruits even more expensive than imported ones.

[@Royce16727]

@ that too. And however we get there, the destination still sucks… 🤷

[@lumenox8541]

@@enzo3237 Corn has plenty of varieties that can be grown which would be fine for ensuring there isn't a monoculture just like potatoes. We just don't grow much else than generic sweet corn right now.

[@capps2015]

Born and raised in the Midsouth US. Rust has been around my whole life. Some years worse than others. Seems it usually happens in late freezes and wet overcast springs. Dryer years with more sun you never hear about it. As far as applying fungicide you almost cant do it from the ground here unless its hill lands as the water table can be a little high.

[@colinfew6570]

So glad to see Niba back!

[@jejbsh2191]

She's telling you we're gonna starve very soon

[@SolaceEasy]

I find her to be a very inauthentic reader of this material.

[@rhonafenwick5643]

Archaeobotanist here. Various studies since the '60s have looked deep into wheat's genetic history and have successfully identified its wild ancestors; some have even managed to resynthesise domestic wheat analogues by crossbreeding those wild ancestors with each other. In the face of the threat from wheat rust, I think we really need to focus on this as a strategy. Resynthesising wheat varieties from the wild ancestral gene pools should create new strains that are genetically as far removed as possible from modern domestic types, which would reintroduce the benefits of hybrid vigour and act as a sort of "reset button" for any genetic weaknesses that have been reinforced by inbreeding over the 10,000 years or so since wheat was first domesticated. Partial resyntheses are already being done using domestic tetraploid wheats as a basis; frankly, though, I think we need to go even deeper than that and do full resyntheses from the ground up, using only the wild diploids to with minimal introgression from any domestic varieties. In that way we can basically domesticate wheat all over again, but this time with an active understanding of the complexities of genetics and the importance of genetic diversity, an understanding that we haven't had for the vast majority of the period during which we've been growing the stuff.

[@alteria2714]

I could see having different strains in one field, just like mixed crop seeds you can scatter as normal, and a website or app that's is easy to use and place reports, data gets processed,and provides the map! And maybe drones with good cameras that can send images to be processed to spot rust in large fields, but that would be a bit more difficult

[@thematronsmilitia]

Wheat is an ideal candidate for greenhouse cultivation by every metric except profitability. Greenhouses could present a physical barrier to the rust spores, to humidity which promotes fungal growth, and to rain which would wash off a fungicide if it was necessary. Greenhouses can also supplement co2 and recycle water

[@pablosousa4061]

One of the things that has made wheat that important is the easeness to cultivate it in an open field. Yes, A greenhouse with state of the art technology and drone monitoring could tackle these issues but when you say "except profitability" you are underplaying how food production works.

[@chrisfleming701]

@@thematronsmilitia yeah but are you going to pay for wheat grown in a greenhouse? Probably not. Your facts are nice, but utterly pointless in the situation.

[@thematronsmilitia]

@@pablosousa4061 well profit is different from economic feasibility. Profit is only relevant as a metric under a capitalist economic model, particularly short term profit, quarterly, yearly. Crop failure is going to be relevant over decades, and most of the infrastructure of a good greenhouse lasts that long. In my region for example a well managed greenhouse could take a wheat crop from 60bushels an acre with a failure every 3-7years to 150bushels an acre with no failure. So you could grow as much wheat on 1/3 of the land

[@Heroesflorian]

@@thematronsmilitia economic feasibility of covering half the planet in greenhouses is about... nonexistent. Besides, at such scales, good luck preventing influx of spores forever. Won't work. Long-term solutions would be to stop making farms that are like a perfectly-arranged all-you-can-eat free buffet for the wheat rust fungi with any sort of predator or competition to the fungus being systematically sprayed dead over and over.

[@thematronsmilitia]

@@pablosousa4061 actually average yeild is closer to 25 bushels an acre in my region. And the world record yeild is 267 bushels. So the theoretical improvement in productivity is an order of magnitude. Increasing the total harvest just to use most of it for animal feed doesn't seem as important to me as acheiving consistent sustainable yeild

[@LaineyBug2020]

They're also working on cultivating bacterium from what's microbiome and it is showing promising results. I also wonder if it would be feasible for farmers to grow a grove of Neem trees on their farm to distill the oil themselves when there are shortages. Neem fruit is edible and the tree can also help with soil erosion so it would be really beneficial all around.

[@a1saysome]

this video deserves over 1 billion views! Great Content i did not know any of that about wheat! i had to leave a like and comment and watched the whole video it was interesting throughout and i just subscribed also

[@gabrieldemourae]

okay

[@SolaceEasy]

I don't eat wheat. Y'all are doomed.

[@studioMYTH]

I will once again, reiterate, that I am a teacher who teaches about wheat to elementary students in Washington state which is super fun. It is amazing to see kids get excited to learn about things like agriculture and environmental science! I do wish that we had more time and opportunity with a students to teach them about things like this

[@Maximillieeee]

On another note, I really enjoy this speaker. Great inflection, mannerisms, tone, comedic timing, etc. Great job. 👏

[@SunniRae-st9sj]

I love her style!

[@SolaceEasy]

I find her to be a hasty and inauthentic reader of this material

[@jackmason5278]

Her presentation style is excellent, and she is naturally attractive. Her taste, however, is abysmal in clothing, jewelry, and makeup.

[@Maximillieeee]

@ let’s agree to disagree 🤗

[@guard13007]

Fungus really is the final boss of biology.

[@SolaceEasy]

Too advanced and vulnerable to the micro cosmos

[@MicahScottPnD]

I work for farmers, growing wheat. This video contains much 'glad to know' material, I thank you❤👍

[@zlodevil426]

Meanwhile Belarusian scientists have created a purple variant of wheat (it has no special properties, it just looks cool)

[@pseudotasuki]

There's also pink pineapples which are much less bitter.

[@Beztebyo]

Cvnty wheat well yes i say 💜💋

[@Mr.Patrick_Hung]

​@@pseudotasukiWhere are they available?

[@MariaMartinez-researcher]

Purple wheat is purple due to anthocyanins, which are antioxidants. That's a special property.

[@MariaMartinez-researcher]

@@Mr.Patrick_Hung According to Google 1st page of results (purple wheat), in Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain.

[@Iowa599]

Fungus is really smart, why don't we just ask it to go somewhere else?

[@ashrad648]

@@Iowa599 theyd probably request the same for us

[@Iowa599]

@@ashrad648 if we go away we won't plant there, and that's what it wants, so that won't work

[@Royce16727]

Because it's smart enough to know it doesn't have to listen to us, lol

[@jer103]

@@ashrad648 I thought you were referencing: The Last of Us (The Infected in Last of Us was from a fungus.)

[@411bvRGiskard]

Why don’t we genetically engineer fungus to be a food crop?

[@wendyfrith3407]

Also curious about the benefits of various fungi to honey bees. They definitely collect the spores of some, cultivating them for food for their larvae. I have taken photographs of honey bees, absolutely loaded with rust fungi, probably melampspora as it was growing on euphorbia heterophylla. Of course, that’s not wheat, and I’m not in Ethiopia, and I know nothing about fungi/insects/plants/farming, etc.; but I do wonder what detrimental effects fungicides have on other essential (to human beings) species and on ecosystems in general.

[@kelliott7864]

In the arid west, we don't have many issues with wheat rust. Be smart and grow what works in your climate.

[@SolaceEasy]

Steal water from downstream or tomorrow (underground). Wheat is from wet.

[@deusex84]

Her voice is so soothing.

[@WalterWhiteFootballSharing]

Some make a case that wheat domesticated humans. People were free wanderers and this big seed grass found a way to enslave the vast majority of humans living in Fertile crescent working dawn to dusk. And now here we are 10k years later fighting a fungus that eats this grass.

[@sirsanti8408]

I think people were working dawn to dusk foraging too

[@SolaceEasy]

The fungus among us will save us

[@edwardlulofs444]

@@sirsanti8408true, but agriculture is less nutritious. Really, the biggest problem with agriculture is that food is processed to be less nutritious. That increases profits. These days, America is about more profits and less health. Too much capitalism. I don’t want too little capitalism either! That’s why government regulation is needed.

[@sirsanti8408]

@edwardlulofs444 absolutely, grain is more meant to give someone their calories for the day, rather than being nutritious. However people used to survive on mostly bread alone and be well enough

[@edwardlulofs444]

@ yes, mostly bread is adequate. However, modern bread is stripped of the kernel and fiber. This increases shelf life and increases profits for the manufacturer but contributes to long term chronic diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and probably dementia. Also, sugar is added which also contributes to these problems. By eliminating sugar and processed foods, over the last year, I have gone from pre-diabetes to normal. Whether it helps with other chronic diseases at my advanced age is still unknown.

[@Jacman8]

The greatest SciShow video since sliced bread

[@robertreznik9330]

We are lucky that we have a big surplus of wheat in the US. The price of wheat is around 10 cents per pound that is 20% below the cost to produce it. The farmers share of bread is 70 lbs for $6.00 Not very lucky for the farmers.

[@johnford7847]

Excellent overview. Thank you.

[@philipb2134]

The breadbasket of sub-Saharan Africa has generally been known to be South Africa - with larger acreage under a better climate and larger land holdings deploying more efficient production technology.

[@charleshash4919]

What about Egypt with irrigated lands along the Nile and in its delta.

[@philipb2134]

@charleshash4919 Egypt is not south of the Sahara.

[@RobKaiser_SQuest]

A good resource on the agricultural side is Wheat Pete or Peter Johnson. He's been studying wheat for 30+ years

[@obsidian9998]

Should we diversify different grains types so if one falls momentary we can shift bread options?

[@ianv.rodriguez8367]

Anyone remember this in The Last Ship?

[@someguycalledcerberus9805]

Now watch us start eating the fungus.

[@shaheenbhoola]

Niba and buns go hand in hand.

[@douglasboyle6544]

Fungustorm...Epic band name.

[@jacko666]

Fůngůstørm!

[@TheKlink]

could sprayings it with sour milk help, like with roses?

[@Jaybiiird]

Its almost like monoculture crops are a bad idea :gasp:

[@taxirob2248]

I've heard that rust never sleeps...

[@Gavin_b3ns0n]

We need to engineer a variety of stainless steel wheat.

[@A-lik]

Me with Celiac disease: "Oh no! Anyways." Real talk, I don't want anyone to starve, or at the very least don't want food to be more expensive. Real talk, has anyone considered diversifying our grain supply? Maybe we should have a look at those farming subsidies? I dunno man, just saying... ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[@sirsanti8408]

Most farmers can't afford to grow anything except what makes the most money

[@A-lik]

@sirsanti8408 "Farmers", more often than you think, are large corporations that underpay farmhands for their labor and produce. Also, if they can only afford to grow what makes them money, and what makes them money is only two or three crops, maybe we should rethink our system and find a way to make more crops profitable.

[@chrisfleming701]

@@A-lik a real farmer who was born and raised by a real farmer, you are completely wrong.

[@Sugar3Glider]

The fungus is among us.

[@lwells3937]

Love your puns. You know where your bread is buttered

[@laurenz76]

Is that the same fungus Interstellar mentions?

[@benjaminlamothe2093]

No, in intersteller they call it wheat blight

[@laurenz76]

@benjaminlamothe2093 yeah but thats the name of the disease. The fungus that causes it usually has a different one. Like the disease was called covid while the virus was named Sars cov 19 or smth like that

[@benjaminlamothe2093]

@@laurenz76 with some further googling the disease in Interstellar is just called The Blight, it isn't stated whether it is fungal or bacterial but it uses nitrogen as a source of energy which is not something any rust fungus does. Rust fungi are also very picky about hosts and infect several different species throughout multiple distinct life stages.

[@laurenz76]

@@benjaminlamothe2093 thank you!

[@Pixel_Manny_69]

@@benjaminlamothe2093 it's also important to remember that all harvests were impacted by extreme weather due to climate change, which put the plants under stress, thus more susceptible to disease. I feel like it's implied that the blight wouldn't be that severe if not for the dust storms and droughts.

[@TaiWanWaf]

New fun guy video cool! Your hair is also SO COOL 🎉

[@Roroxane]

Oh hi Niba, welcome back!

[@sashabrown1796]

Diversify grain crops?

[@SolaceEasy]

Decrease grain reliance

[@Nick-Lab]

She is a great host. They are all great but she is one of the best. I love her voice.

[@arcan762]

@@Nick-Lab I love her everything

[@SolaceEasy]

I find that she is racing through material that she cannot understand.

[@lancebradshaw9755]

This week's host has such a fashionable outfit I'm in love with it also great information

[@wallace8637]

This reminds of the original banana flavoured banana that wiped out just because of one desiese.

[@speezygirl7496]

I understand from the NIH (as reported in the journal Biomolecules) that fungicides and their use need to be carefully regulated to safeguard public health and the health of animals and insects such as bees. When we see a threat like wheat rust, it is critical that we act. The work of the Nobel Laureate to develop a fungus-resistant strain of wheat is great guns, because it may obviate the use or at least the heavy use of fungicides. But I thought the video should have mentioned the danger of fungicide use, even if only to state that the risk is likely outweighed by the benefit.

[@HweolRidda]

Another reason for controlling fungicide use is resistence. Fungi don't evolve as quickly as bacteria, but the principles behind antibiotic resistent bacteria apply here too.

[@Reltihliehlla]

Am I going crazy? Or is this a movie plot we're living the prelude to...

[@HidaAtarasi]

Doesn’t fungus count as a pest?

[@TheChrisLeone]

Not always, but in this scenario they would be pests.

[@mho...]

Fungi & their mycelium are the web, that keeps our worldwide (soil)ecosystem running! and because we humans created these *VAST* mono-cultures, it was just a matter of time, until something in nature jumps onto this opportunity & evolves to benefit from it....... if we humans like it & call it pests or not!

[@Pingviinimursu]

Does plant count as a pest? Or animal?

[@TheChrisLeone]

@@Pingviinimursu "A pest is any living thing that negatively impacts humans, their possessions, or the environment. Pests can be plants, animals, microorganisms, or pathogens."

[@agapitoliria]

Fitting I just started watching The Last of Us. The Last of Wheat.

[@baahbb]

Sporecast.... You missed the chance

[@AroundTheBlockAgain]

Oh ew, I knew this thing could infect pointless crops like grass lawns, but wheat crops seems much more serious

[@gab.lab.martins]

I missed Niba

[@arcan762]

Chocolate cutie 🥺

[@DCDevTanelorn]

It wasn’t clear to me what has changed that is putting wheat in greater danger other than climate change. Is it just climate change?

[@jonijokunen3542]

In plants, there's a trade-off between yield and hardiness, i.e. the more energy a plant uses for defense against pathogens and/or pests, the less energy it has to grow and produce biomass. Modern wheat varieties have been bred to maximize grain yield, but it has left them more susceptible to disease

[@HweolRidda]

And fungi evolve. So a new varient of a fungus can appear that is more resistent to fungicides and/or a plant's natural resistence. Climate change means that different fungi will thrive in a given location (wetter/drier, hotter).

[@k.h.6991]

Climate change causes weather extremes: too much water, not enough water, too hot, too cold. Plants will get stressed when they get too close to the border of what they can handle. Stressed plants are more susceptible to diseases like fungi. Also: fungi like it hot and moist. Great combination for them.

[@ronkirk5099]

I wonder if fungus becomes resistant to fungicides like insects do with pesticides, and if so, how fast it happens?

[@notmegan8799]

they definitely do, not as fast as antibiotic resistance in bacteria, but still pretty fast.

[@notashroom]

So monoculture, over reliance on specific plant species, and allowing the extinction or near extinction of local varietals which have adapted to local conditions through millennia of evolution all make global population more vulnerable to a given threat, and in response we are going to double down on this plan by engineering a cultivar resistant to one specific threat? Homo sapiens is a misnomer. 🤨 Diversify all the agricultural things to improve system resilience.

[@TheLuc1890]

every crop is in trouble cuz of global warming, even coffee is struggling in Indonesia.

[@TheSeventhChild]

HYPER OATS

[@Incaensio]

Niba you look amazing

[@arcan762]

Chocolate cutie 🥺

[@pseudotasuki]

Funny how the science deniers come out of the woodwork any time the topic involves farming.

[@swunt10]

Nah, leftists are not that interested in farming. Most of them think food comes from the super market.

[@pseudotasuki]

​@@swunt10It's certainly something they have very strong (and equally inaccurate) beliefs about.

[@SolaceEasy]

When topic involves ANYTHING

[@TheLemonKidd]

Niba ur outfit is so cute!!! I adore the shirt 🫶🫶🫶

[@veryberry39]

I really love that shirt she's wearing!

[@Cwistool]

Her hands seemed to be dancing haha

[@onebreh]

Finally! We have a reason to watch these videos, not only listen. Thanks for that :) .

[@Vicioussama]

Finally a mention of Norman Borlaug on this channel :P still waiting on a series about him heh

[@mho...]

who could have possibly guessed, that huge mono-cultures arent good in the long run?!🤫

[@sirsanti8408]

They're efficient, you can't feed the entire world on polycultures

[@RobKaiser_SQuest]

^ That's just it, efficiency and *profit*, permaculture technologies like no-till, cover crops, and crop rotations are taking off because they either pay for themselves to an extent that justifies their complexity, or they reduce complexity to an extent that justifies the loss to profit. Polycultures haven't taken off despite being experimented with for just as long, because they haven't crossed either threshold in trials.

[@sirsanti8408]

@RobKaiser_SQuest poly cultures just aren't efficient at all, you sacrifice efficiency for some environmental benefits, and for a single person or small community it's better. You can't just use a combine if your crops are way, even if they're just two different grains you have different ideal harvest times, methods, and two different markets to worry about

[@RobKaiser_SQuest]

That's just it, I've been thinking about doing a row-by-row poly of corn and soybean, I ran the combine for the first time this year and pretty much instantly put the idea to bed 🤣 Mayybe you could combine a short-season tall corn and late-season short bean, planted north to south for Sun exposure on the beans, and harvest corn first with the head way up, then put up with the extra residue when you come back for beans... but that "3 Sisters" that uses corn and climbing beans, with squash all sprawling in between? No way...

[@davesatxify]

When I heard this adorable, knowledgeable and capable presenter say Norman Borlaug is a AgroGnomist... I wondered if he specializes in growing gnomes to then grow food. I know she meant agronomist, but the verbal typo (im actually forgetting what to call it!) is too adorable to not pick up on. Brings to mind all manner of gnome based foolery back in the day..

[@SolaceEasy]

Wingin' it again on SciShow... Lack of competent editorial support is destroying all media these days.

[@bendershome4discountorphan859]

So is weed

[@mrdeanvincent]

That's cool, but an even better approach would be to avoid these enormous fields of monocrops entirely and return to growing food with greater biodiversity. This means healthier soils, healthier foods, better pest resistance, increased habitat for wild animals, less need for pesticides and fertilisers, less toxic run-off into our waterways, etc. The downside is that it generally requires more labour... but that still seems like a way better option than our current trajectory of gradually making all of these things worse.

[@blackkennedy3966]

A better way is permaculture. Integrating food crops together in a web of different layers that mimics nature. Wheat as a ground cover, a shrub like say pomegranates, prickly pear, blue berries, etc bigger tree above that like pecans, date palms, apple trees. And vining layer climbing the trees like grape vines, dragon fruits etc. but obviously this fits individual subsidence gardening better than commercial.

[@buleirww7471]

unlike the potato, Wheat as a grass can inter-breed eachother, and the survival-bias/natural-selection usually can work out diseases situation, often without human interference.

[@jackmason5278]

True, but evolution takes a lot of time. We need a quick solution.

[@marco48395]

Nice style!

[@FelixTheAnimator]

Monoculture is bad.

[@Auroral_Anomaly]

If wheat is in trouble, we are in trouble.

[@bellablue5285]

Oh, that thumbnail looks like the rust stuff that took over my yard this year after a ton of unceasing rain and folks letting their dogs wander through. Didn't realize it hits crops too, stuff is nasty

[@shakeyj4523]

I have Celiac Disease. Saving wheat is not one of my top priorities.

[@jacquesbaker1557]

Even if you can’t directly eat wheat, unless you’re vegetarian you probably eat animals that do eat wheat on a regular basis.

[@dennisestenson7820]

Get rid of all the wheat crops! It's a myth that people need wheat.

[@plwadodveeefdv]

​@@dennisestenson7820I don't think anyone thinks people need wheat... we just want it

[@jesipohl6717]

birch polypore (made into a tea), wood ears, and 45 g of mushroom chitin a day are shown to help a significant number of people with digestive issues relating to microbiome as well as inflamation.

[@Erichasadong]

Wheat GOATED. Get out our way or your next

[@ThatBritishHomestead]

I have such bad rust on my plants and I grow next to farmers fields... I wonder if that's why?

[@FelixTheAnimator]

I've a half pound of emmer wheat to plant in the spring.

[@maviskilpatrick7592]

Is emmer a spring or winter wheat? It’s awesome that you’re planting it!!❤

[@feuerling]

​@@maviskilpatrick7592 apparently it can be both a winter and a summer wheat, depending on the specific breed (strain?) of Emmer.

[@Diva_4720]

i usually just listen to the audio without watching the clip but damn 😮 the host makes one reconsider

[@Scottie5809]

❤

[@buleirww7471]

China have been working on rice and wheats for thousands of years. But they were not troubled by fungies, usually droughts. It is important to let farmers have their own seeds, instead of seeds being controlled over few big-corporation. When there is 1 million individaul farmers, each having their own strains of seed, then no fungies can wipe them all. Very simple diversification.

[@Syco108]

If you ask me Niba is the best science communicator on this channel since Hank Green

[@DirkDierickx]

this video made me think about the beginning of interstellar... 😟

[@itspiglet9783]

If only people stopped worrying about who uses what bathroom trying to force the bible in schools and denying women control over their own bodies and therefore lives could focus on more important things like this.

[@rohanwilkinson1021]

I was hoping we could hybrid wheat with sea weed to create a oceanic type of wheat that won't drown or die from sea salt and has a abundance of minerals that it can acquire from sea salt through a filtration process.

[@DomyTheMad420]

oh my gosh your hair and ear piercings are amazing!!

[@Rameon]

This would effect me so minimally, in fact, it would be more beneficial to me if wheat disappeared so it stops ending up on my plate. I’m not allergic to gluten or whatever but I do recognize the issue with things like pasta which is really not good for you. Meat, fat and vegetables. That’s all you need.

[@nicodemusedwards6931]

If Wheat is so great, why haven’t they come out with Wheat II?

[@hazardousmaterial5492]

They have

[@meeponinthbit3466]

Because it's so good, they moved to a live service, paid subscription model.

[@plwadodveeefdv]

​@@meeponinthbit3466oof

[@richardl6751]

It's called Quadrotriticale.

[@SolaceEasy]

New Wheat, with even less nutrition!

[@paulgaras2606]

Hold on wheat, lemme fire up the bat signal.

[@AmethystPeople]

Wow, Niba is really pretty

[@arcan762]

Chocolate cutie 🥺

[@JooceGooce]

@@arcan762 stop.

[@SolaceEasy]

Sharp and bony. That's gonna hurt.

[@AmethystPeople]

@@arcan762 that's a really weird thing to say

[@jackmason5278]

Pretty? Yes, but she completely lacks taste in clothing, jewelry, and makeup. She would look far better without all the ill-advised additions.

[@BusinessInformationGathering]

このオレンジ色のサビ病は、小麦の収穫量を減らすだけではなく、もし、人間が食べた場合、体の毒になるのか？なう(2024/11/27 12:10:07)

[@Joedirtsoilwork970]

I’m fed up.. wheat is in trouble because gmo crops lack natural resistance and because chemicals have turned our native soil into sterile wastelands where the bad microorganisms always come back faster than the good microorganisms that our poor ag practices have driven out. Modern technology is the problem not the solution, nature had it under control for eons

[@RobKaiser_SQuest]

*If* there are any GMO wheat varieties on the market they only came out in the past couple years and my salesmen don't know about them.

[@Bearbute0111]

Legalize it!!

[@DomingoRK]

Vertical farming now please

[@Christosan88]

Makes me think of the scene in Alien Covenant where they found huge wheat

[@unknownmanufacturer2669]

If they would stop constantly alternating the genetics of the plants we would have less problems with some food supplies dwindling sometimes it helps yea but the majority of the time it actually causes problems for not only the plants but anything that eats it it's also why all planted foods are less beneficial for everything that eats it than previously

[@ephemeral3372]

Corn better.

[@damarisfish]

Can we eat rust? Like mushrooms?

[@mho...]

you can eat ANYTHING, atleast once!

[@brianphillips7696]

Probably not. I don’t know if it has any nutritional value and i can’t think of an economical way to separate it from the wheat plant it is growing on. Some similar fungi are bad for humans to consume. (Though I haven’t heard of wheat rusts that cause problems)

[@Andrewp226]

$450k Returns the Lord is my saviour in times of my need!!!

[@doroteasilva]

wow this awesome 👏 I'm 37 and have been looking for ways to be successful, please how??

[@Andrewp226]

It's Ms. Susan Jane Christy doing, she's changed my life.

[@jonathandyes]

After I raised up to 325k trading with her I bought a new House and a car here in the states 🇺🇸🇺🇸 also paid for my son's surgery (Oscar). Glory to God.shalom.

[@janetfreeman2300]

Absolutely! I've heard stories of people who started with little to no knowledge but made it out victoriously thanks to Ms. Susan Jane Christy.

[@Robertjonathan531]

Can't imagine earning $85,000 biweekly, God bless Ms. Susan Jane Christy, God bless America 🇺🇸♥️

[@LowOfSolipsism]

I like other hosts more.

[@marksilla8276]

The Last of Rust