Breeding For Climate Change

摘要

With new tools, varieties, and technology, we're at least better equipped to handle whatever Mother Nature sends our way.THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST tree fruit industry is ready for climate change. That is not saying we welcome its inevitable progress, just that we have some tools to deal with it, and perhaps even a reason to welcome slowly increasing temperatures, CO2 levels, and precipitation over the long run.Why welcome it? That higher CO2 and temperature scenario may alter some microclimates here and there, bad news for certain wine grape varieties in the Willamette Valley, but across the Pacific Northwest as a region, it also augurs higher yields and sufficient irrigation water.