Wild About Peanuts – Using Crop Wild Relatives To Improve Today’s Crops

Sep 27, 2022

By Susan V. Fisk

However you eat your peanuts – shelled, salted, or in a favorite mix – they are a snack item enjoyed by many. The peanut we eat is technically a seed, and they also are a rich source of oils. An obstacle this crop faces, however, is a variety of plant diseases that reduce yields. In the September 22^nd Sustainable, Secure Food Blog, crop breeders discover a new variety of peanut that is disease-resistant, with help from crop wild relatives.

Crop wild relatives are the ancient ancestors of today’s cultivated crops. And even today, they live on in various harsh locations – deserts, roadside ditches. Places where they look like “weeds.” But really, these crop wild relatives contain important genetic information for today’s crop breeders. Crop breeders at the University of Georgia recently released a new variety of peanut that is disease-resistant thanks to help from the crop wild relative of peanut. The team looked for ways to make it possible to use the genetic material of the wild relative of peanut to improve disease resistance in modern peanut varieties.

The team used seeds provided by the United States Department of Agriculture to grow small plants and took cuttings. They treated these cuttings with a chemical called “colchicine” – chemicals are often used by breeders for many reasons. The good news? The team was able to breed new peanut varieties that had resistance to common leaf rusts (a fungal disease).

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Video: When is Sustainable Packaging Coming in the Canadian Agri Food Industry? 3 Critical Perspectives

Canada’s regulatory landscape on single-use plastics is complex but a recent ruling by the Federal Court of Appeal sided with the government’s intent to eliminate single-use plastics. What does this mean for the Canadian agri-food industry? How can companies find the right balance between regulatory compliance and implementing costly alternative solutions? What are retailers and consumers saying about sustainable packaging? This webinar features Joshua Goodman, Head of Corporate Sustainability, Sobeys; Marie-Anne Champoux-Guimond, Director of Sustainability, Keurig Dr Pepper Canada and Glenford Jameson, Canadian Food Lawyer, G.S. Jameson and Company

This 60-minute webinar brings together three industry leaders to examine the opportunities, challenges, and realities of the path forward. In this session, you will gain insights into:

•Canada’s regulatory roadmap and timeline on eliminating single-use plastics

•Current end-of-life solutions for plastics and alternative packaging solutions

•The need to have a corporate strategy that aligns with reality at the retail shelves

•How major brands and retailers are pivoting

•Supply chain considerations

•Common misconceptions