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A wheat killer in the heart of Africa

Alex Amend, Pulitzer Center GeoffNightingale

Today in the Washington Post Pulitzer Center grantee Sharon Schmickle reports on a serious wheat rust epidemic in Africa, the first in 50 years.

Small farmers in Kenya and Uganda who depend on their limited yield have seen their crops completely destroyed by this new strain, Ug99, and experts believe that if the strain continues to spread, real damage could be done to the world's supply of this essential grain.

Schmickle reports from Africa and St. Paul, Minnesota, where scientists are working to develop a variant capable of resisting Ug99.

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