“Scientists and engineers want to be ready when new crops are needed,” [Hiroshi] Maeda said. “Of course, we shouldn’t push the technology if society isn’t ready, but knowing a drastic change in climate is here, it may be now that we need these solutions.”

Researchers like [Joseph] Jez,  Maeda, [Sunil] Kenchanmane Raju, [Rebecca] Roston and [Kranthi] Mandadi are racing against time to create cold-resistant crops, novel biopesticides and alternative farming methods to combat climate change’s assault on citrus, sorghum and other crops.

“The plants we have now are not going to be the plants we have in 2050,” Jez said. “The big unknown is whether we can either breed or edit the path forward to make plants survive the climate of 2050 or 2100. Can we do it fast enough while also trying to figure out how to do it with less water and less soil? There are a lot of big systems biology challenges here, but I think that’s where biochemistry, genetics and developmental biology can make a difference.”

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