For thousands of years, farmers have surveyed their fields and
eyed the sky, hoping for good weather and a bumper crop. And
when they found particular plants that fared well even in bad
weather, were especially prolific, or resisted disease that
destroyed neighboring crops, they naturally tried to capture
those desirable traits by crossbreeding them into other plants.
But it has always been a game of hit or miss. Unable to look
inside the plants and know exactly what was producing their
favorable characteristics, one could only mix and match plants
and hope for the best. This article was originally published
with the title Back to the Future of Cereals.