Editor: Humensciences
Collection: Nature et Savoir
By François Parcy (Autor), Pierre Laszlo (Preface)
ISBN: 978-2-3793-1637-1
2024, 228 pages
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There was a time when potatoes and almonds were poisonous, and maize cobs contained only a few kernels surrounded by a hard shell. It was humans who, over thousands of years, selected mutant plants to create the varieties we grow today. Far from being frightening, mutations are at the heart of the diversity of living organisms, and scientific advances over the last thirty years have enabled dozens of them to be identified, leading to the domestication of wild plants.
Today, climate change and the need for agriculture to use fewer pesticides and fertilisers mean that we need to adapt our varieties. New techniques can speed up the process, for example by making plants resistant to disease or able to withstand periods of drought. It is time to dream about the plants of tomorrow's world, those that will feed the planet in a more sustainable way.