Scientists make progress in fighting wheat rust

Scientists have been hard at work in recent years combating a significant disease of wheat. Stem rust is caused by a group of nasty fungal organisms that can infect wheat plants and devastate yields. In some cases up to 100 percent of the crop can be lost.

The battle between stem rust and agricultural researchers isn’t new. Sometimes the tide runs in one direction, sometimes in another. At the end of the last century the advantage went to the fungus side. In Ethiopia and Uganda in 1998 and 1999, a new type of stem rust appeared. It’s known for short as “Ug99” for Uganda, 1999.

Luckily, Ug99 is...