Other research teams are taking different approaches to breeding fertilizer-frugal crops. Over the past six years, a group at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), headquartered in Texcoco, Mexico, has had success using conventional breeding to create maize that grows well in the nitrogen-starved soils of Africa.

Natasha Gilbert at Nature. The race to create super-crops Old-fashioned breeding techniques are bearing more fruit than genetic engineering in developing hyper-efficient plants. (via protoslacker)