Researchers at the Northwestern Agricultural Research Centre in Creston, Montana, claim to have developed a wheat variety resistant to wheat midge. The mosquito-sized insect feeds on wheat kernels and has caused millions of dollars of damage to Montana’s billion-dollar wheat industry.

The wheat’s resistant gene has proved to be highly effective in trials, and the new variety should be available to farmers in 2016.

Source: Lynda Kiernan, Oilseed & Grain Trade.