COLLEGE STATION - Texas A&M University scientists are looking for ways to deal with a plant pathogen that destroys enough rice every year to feed 60 million people. The pathogen, rice blast, is so clever in it's its genetic design that it can mutate faster than breeders can develop resistant varieties. Rice farming is the largest single use of cultivatable land for producing food, with more than 300 million acres worldwide. It is the staple food for the largest number of people on earih and accountsfor 23 percent of the total calories consumed, according to the International Rice Research Institute.
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