{"id":3546,"date":"2020-09-01T14:30:10","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T14:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/?p=3546"},"modified":"2020-09-03T12:42:28","modified_gmt":"2020-09-03T12:42:28","slug":"whats-the-deal-with-interstellars-idea-that-corn-and-okra-are-the-only-crops-left-in-the-future-lets-ask-a-scientist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/2020\/09\/01\/whats-the-deal-with-interstellars-idea-that-corn-and-okra-are-the-only-crops-left-in-the-future-lets-ask-a-scientist\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the Deal with Interstellar\u2019s Idea That Corn and Okra Are the Only Crops Left in the Future? Let\u2019s Ask a Scientist."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Note: I used to work for Dr. Matthew Kleinhenz at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, OH. I chose to put this work within science, because while related to art, Kleinhenz provides a scientific response.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there any blight or disease that could wipe out most of the world\u2019s crops? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The big question: Are we ever going to be in danger \u2014 in the most extreme and speculative sense \u2014 of ever having just corn and okra to eat?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI got the biggest kick out of this premise,\u201d Kleinhenz said. \u201cBut if I were sitting around talking with the filmmakers I\u2019d be a wet blanket.\u201d Blight, disease, and all the other factors that make crops die off, he explained, don\u2019t usually cut such a wide swath. Also, when one plant form dies off or struggles, that often opens a door for another to thrive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe way the biological world is constructed just doesn\u2019t support this scenario,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are strains of diseases that wreak havoc on individual crops and even on groups of related regions, but these have to not just be adapted to the crop but to the climate and conditions.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a fundamental tenet of plant pathology called the disease triangle. It says that for any disease to spread widely it needs three things: a susceptible host, a pathogen, and the right environmental conditions. Take any one away, and the disease won\u2019t spread. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very unlikely that a single superbug would spread across our diverse planet, or even do as well in Alaska as Peru.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But c\u2019mon. Get speculative. Is there anything that makes horticulture scientists shiver just a bit? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sure, maybe this kind of scenario isn\u2019t likely, but is there anything \u2014 likely or not \u2014 that could radically reshape agriculture as we know it? \u201cWell, what you can say,\u201d he said, \u201cis that things are changing.\u201d Why? Two words: climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extreme weather and the effects of climate change aren\u2019t science fiction. \u201cThis is a global phenomenon with local realities,\u201d Kleinhenz said. He works extensively with farmers and agriculture in the Midwest, and in the extreme weather of the last couple years he\u2019s seen unprecedented effects that have a long tail of consequences. \u201cIn 2012, for instance, there was no apple crop in Michigan, which meant that the laborers who usually harvest apples didn\u2019t come. But this also meant that the vegetable crops they usually harvest didn\u2019t get picked either. There are all these layers of climate effect on agriculture: social and economic layers, food, diet, health. Individual weather events can really strain the system.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 2012 I was called in by several farmers in their 80s, who had never encountered weather (or challenges) like this in their entire working lives. No one who is working today had previously seen what 2012 brought.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So could climate change be the superbug that leaves us with just corn and okra to eat? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Kleinhenz hastened to reassure here as well. \u201cI\u2019m not genuinely concerned about something being removed from people\u2019s tables. What I would say is that the supply chain that provides it, the price paid for it, its availability, the way in which it is brought \u2014 those may change.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His work with climate change and agriculture does make him concerned for the agriculture community and their way of life in the United States. \u201cEffects of weather have always been with us and most astute know how to deal with them and over the course of a career. But the system is built to tolerate certain levels of fluctuation and when those tolerances are regularly being exceeded it sends ripples through the whole system.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But farmers tend to find a way forward. \u201cOn a day to day basis,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019ve always been impressed by the resilience and adaptability of that same community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: The Kitchn<\/a>. Article by Faith Durand<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

As mentioned in my Art section [provide link], Interstellar<\/em> (2014) provides an elementary vision of where agriculture could head. In this interview, Matt points out that while the concept of where we end up might be far-fetched or impossible, the reality is the biological world is changing around us at the most rapid paces in recorded history due to climate change. In other articles on this site from the domain of Rural Sociology and the Sociology of Agriculture, we see studies backing up the importance of agriculture in rural communities. As with any staple industry, agriculture holds up other industries within its proximity. When less individuals are farming in an area, there is less need for farm supply stores, less variety of seed providers, less seasonal laborers needed by the farm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kleinhenz also notes that climate change will affect what we eat. Today’s practices of genetically-engineered monocultures and overproduced, government-subsidized cash crops are unsustainable and leave agriculture as a fragile system. One day these norms will be disrupted and replaced, resulting in a new dietary culture in the western world and probably around the globe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kleinhenz’s final note about the “resilience and adaptability of [the] community” in reference to agricultural producers is backed by other studies in Rural Sociology noting a larger resilience among family farmers compared to industries and the population as a whole. Their responses to the changes in our world are important to watch and learn from. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While from a pop journal, I used to work for Matthew Kleinhenz at OARDC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3546","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-science-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3546"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3756,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3546\/revisions\/3756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}