Tell Congress to support triple-grain crop variants in the Farm Bill!

Common wheat plants, one of humanity’s primary staple crops for millennia, normally produce one grain per “spikelet,” formed from the one “pistil” (like a plant “ovary”) in each developing wheat flower. Scientists identified a natural “mutant” strain of wheat that produced three grains per spikelet, due to three pistils forming per flower in the plant’s early development. After observing this mutant “triple-grain wheat” in nature, a new study by a research team from the University of Maryland now reports that they have concluded genetic mapping to find the gene responsible.

The researchers discovered that activating the dormant WUS-D1 gene in wheat results in three pistils forming per wheat flower instead of one, leading to the eventual production of three grains per spikelet. If this can be scaled up to commercial wheat farming (now a near-term possibility), even partially, it could mean substantial increases in production of grain per acre cultivated, with little to no additional land, water, or fertilizer.

“Pinpointing the genetic basis of this trait offers a path for breeders to incorporate it into new wheat varieties, potentially increasing the number of grains per spike and overall yield.

By employing a gene editing toolkit, we can now focus on further improving this trait for enhancing wheat yield. This discovery provides an exciting route to develop cost-effective hybrid wheat.”

— Professor Vijay Tiwari, University of Maryland.

This looks like a revolutionary new farming gene-hack, with the potential to dramatically increase grain yields without requiring more land, water, or fertilizer! It’s a brand-new discovery, so there might even be similar genes to be found in other major grain crops like maize or rice. As the climate become more unstable and extreme weather events in major breadbasket growing areas become common, this could be an incredibly useful new technique to ensure ongoing food abundance.

Congress is still considering the next Farm Bill, a huge investment in American agriculture (the U.S. spends an average of $648 billion per year on Farm Bill programs) that’s up for renewal for the first time since 2018. The just-getting-started field triple-grain crop variants is a relatively new invention and not really on the political radar screen yet. That means there’s a really great opportunity here for Congress to use the Farm Bill to help promote its deployment across America with supportive awareness-raising, tax credits, and regulatory incentives!

Tell Congress to support triple-grain crop variants in the Farm Bill!