As the world's population continues to grow, so does its appetite for cereal grains, which include such dietary staples as wheat. An epidemic of stem rust on wheat caused by race UG99 is currently spreading across Africa, Asia and most recently into Middle East and is causing major concern. The new pathogen goes by the name of Ug99, for the nation—Uganda—1999, the year, which its emergence was formally recognized. This infection is coming, and almost no one has heard about it. Ug99 is a race of stem rust that blocks the vascular tissues in cereal grains including wheat, oats and barley. Unlike leaf or stripe rusts that may reduce crop yields, Ug99-infected plants may suffer up to 100 percent loss. Two thirds of U.S. wheat varieties could be susceptible to Ug99. Also two thirds of wheat grown in India and Pakistan are also vulnerable to this rust, and wheat in China is thought to have similar vulnerabilities. Add to that droughts and floods along with a lot of crop fields being used for growing corn and products that are used to convert to ethanol to feed our hunger for fuel. There appears to be a “perfect storm” coming to bring a wheat shortage and escalating prices worldwide!
You may be sitting here reading this in North America and Europe and saying “ That will never happen here” Global travel and the threat of bioterrorism can easily bring this infection to areas like North America and Europe. Even if the infection does not spread here, the global supply and demand for a very limited supply of wheat, will raise the price dramatically.