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Grape Research Helps Answer Climate Change Question

Dr. Laszlo Kovacs
Dr. Laszlo Kovacs
Dr. Laszlo Kovacs
Dr. Laszlo Kovacs

Ancient farmers, through trial and error, determined the best fit between a crop, the soil and weather conditions. They had plenty of land to choose from to find the perfect fields for their crops.

But as the availability of cultivable land diminishes and as climates change, our ability to grow enough food is becoming limited, too.An interview with Dr. Laszlo Kovacs.

This is the root of Dr. Laszlo Kovacs’ research. He’s a geneticist and biologyprofessor at Missouri State University interested in the agricultural industry.

More than anything, Kovacs loves being in the beauty of the Ozarks collecting wild relatives of the cultivated grape. Much of Kovacs’ work involves wild grape species because, biologically, saving native plants provides great benefits. Those species may have critical genes for something in the future, which is worth preserving.

For the last 10 years or so, he and his students have been collecting plants of two interesting North American grapes, he tells us more.

Read more about his research at mindseye.missouristate.edu.

Copyright 2021 KSMU. To see more, visit KSMU.

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Nicki received a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Business Administration from Missouri State in marketing, in 2002 and 2004 respectively. After gaining experience in writing, marketing, special event planning, fundraising and public relations, she returned to the university to work as the public relations specialist in the office of university communications. There she tells the university’s story by sharing the stories of individuals at Missouri State.