Walking on the Wild Side of Plants

It’s summer, a time for planting and growing. But these days, many of the plants on farm fields and even in backyard gardens come from nearly identical genetic strains. The lack of genetic diversity in our crops should be a concern to anyone who eats food, according to our guest, Dr. James Bradeen of the UofM Department of Plant Pathology. We talked to him about how cultivating wild plants and investing in gene banks can help protect food systems from disease, insects and the effects of climate change.