Slate: "Drought Is Coming for Your Beer"

I trust the Germans to avoid pulling a stunt like inserting Gila monster genes into the genome to make it more drought tolerant. Hopefully they will use classic crossbreeding methods to stay true to the barley genome and still increase drought tolerance.

 

Whatever it takes to sell a story and pour money into something to keep the economy going.

 

And if they can't I'd rather drink GMO beer than no beer at all.

 

Wait, the geneticists last name is Stein? Too perfect.

 

The nice man at the wine bar warned me about this. He said that production's been steady, but won't maintain next year without a very rainy winter (which Farmer's Almanac predicts we will have in my neck of the woods, fingers crossed).

 

People be growin' barley in window boxes! I know of several guys looking into planting barley here in the Piedmont. It's just a drop in the bucket, but with the desire for local and regional produce, it sure seems like a good idea. I've also caught wind of some new malting projects.

 

Thanks Todd.

 

And if you change one letter in his first name you get Pils Stein.

 

Why do you favor conventional breeding methods? There is abundant evidence showing that transgenesis is more efficient and safer than conventional breeding with less unintended impacts, and they both achieve the same end goal. Unless you're saying your taste is so refined that you will be able to taste gila monster sweat in your beer from one gene. Not that whatever gene they use will have anything to do with the flavor, anyway.

 

Since temperature averages haven't changed in the last 15 years, I guess they still have time to work on the hybridization process.

 

Don't give Rogue and Dogfish Head any more ideas! I'm still not worried about climate change.

 

So, in other words, nothing has been learned from past droughts and crops haven't adapted to changing climate conditions over the last few thousand of years?

 

Be careful now, you know how old the earth really is, don't you?

 

That's why I didn't have to go to history class. I lived it.

 

Probably something to do with the totally weird anti-science contingent spreading rampart misinformation on Facebook that people believe over credible sources.

 

I think Otis was referring to the 6,000 +/- years of organized human culture and agriculture.

 

At first glance I thought it said "Pils Stein". I was like, wow, really?

Edit: damn, someone beat me to it

Dope

 

Whatever happens - warming or cooling - has happened before. We need to look at climate history (some already do) to try to decypher what happened to rainfall patterns in grain-producing areas in regards to either scenario.

In other words, in the last 6,000 years, we have had multiple climate fluctuations. In each case, what happened to grain production in Europe and Asia Minor? Cooler temps can mean shorter grain-growing seasons and wetter conditions can lead to mold growth on barley, etc..

We should learn more about what Mother Nature has already done to our ancestors and how we can adapt to any significant future changes, rather than blaming each other over what might be 98% natural.

 

Yeah, that's the ticket.