Science & technology | AI in the field
Heritable Agriculture, a Google spinout, is bringing AI to crop breeding
By reducing the cost of breeding, the firm hopes to improve yields and other properties for an array of important crops
When Norman Borlaug moved to Mexico in 1944, 60% of the wheat consumed in the country was imported. The government wanted to produce enough of the staple domestically to meet demand, so with money from the Rockefeller Foundation it had started the Cooperative Wheat Research and Production Programme, and asked Borlaug to lead it.
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