They called for research into next-generation antifungals that make it harder for pathogens to develop a resistance against, and cross-bred seeds that are naturally resistant to pathogens. The experts said farmers were up against a powerful adversary.įungi are 'incredibly resilient' and can survive in soil for up to 40 years, as well as being extremely adaptable and having 'phenomenal genetic diversity,' they said. The crop loss would be 'catastrophic' across Africa and other poorer regions, where farmers already struggle to produce decent yields, but would also have a 'major impact in the Western world,' she added. 'This worrying trend may only worsen as a warming world makes fungal infections more prevalent in European crops, and as they continue to develop resistance to antifungals.' 'We're already seeing massive crop losses to fungal infection, which could sustain millions of people each year,' Stukenbrock said. Wheat stem rust infections - which normally occur in the tropics - have recently been reported in Ireland and England.Įva Stukenbrock, a professor at Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, GermanyĮva Stukenbrock, a fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and a coauthor on the study, said the danger was growing as the global population is set to exceed 10 billion by the end of the century. The fungal pathogens that eat up crops are moving north and south towards the poles at a rate of 7km each year as temperatures rise, researchers said. Like in the Last of Us, which saw the Cordyceps fungus adapt to human body temperatures as global temperatures rose, the real-life food threat is made worse by the planet getting hotter. Other grains and bananas are also vulnerable. Growers already lose between 10 and 23 percent of their crops to fungal infection each year, despite dousing them in antifungals.Īnother 10-20 percent is lost once they've been harvested.Īcross mankind's key food sources - rice, wheat, corn, soya beans and potatoes - that amounts to losing the food needed to feed between 600 million and 4 billion people for a year, researchers said.Īll those crops are vulnerable to fungal infections, ranging from rice blast fungus to wheat stem rust, corn smut, soybean rust and potato late blight disease. In her study, Gurr says farmers are starting at a bad point. Still, many Malthusian-type projections about mass starvation have proven baseless. Other experts have expressed alarm about fungi destroying more crops. 'The imminent threat here is not about zombies, but about global starvation,' says food scientist Sarah Gurr
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