Living Libraries Could Save Our Food: Scientists Develop Method to Breed Climate-Resilient Crops Faster

By Gaby Clark

University of Hawaiʻi scientists are among a team of researchers who have discovered an innovative way to help adapt food crops around the world to Earth's rapidly changing climate.

A new study published in Nature Climate Change reveals how plant genebanks, home to millions of genetically diverse plants around the world, can help speed up the process of breeding crops better suited for climate change.

"Climate driven pressures on food crops touch every country on our planet and this technique holds promise for making more use of our global genebanks," said co-author Michael Kantar of the UH Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR).