January 2021 issue

Volume 66, Issue 1

“Shovelomics”—digging up mature plants to examine their roots—is a low-tech method for selecting plants with root phenotypes that will optimize their growth in low-input environments. Celestina Jochua (pictured here) is a researcher and bean breeder in Mozambique who implemented shovelomics to breed three varieties of phosphorus-efficient common bean with almost double the yield for subsistence farmers in southern Africa. See story on p. 6. Photo by Jimmy Burridge.