Tim McDonnell/Climate Desk
Raise a glass to these German scientists, who are working out a way to protect a key beer ingredient from climate change. As Oktoberfest rages on, geneticist Nils Stein is deciphering the genome of barley, looking for genes that could help the plant survive through droughts. The study’s implications go beyond these beer tents. Barley is the fourth most produced cereal in the world; a recent drought in Russia that hurt barley production led to a global price spike. And a drought that devastated Syria’s barley crop contributed to that country’s civil war. Join Climate Desk on a trip from some of the world’s most advanced greenhouses to the rowdy crowds of Munich.
Produced in part by a grant from the Heinrich Böll Foundation.
