Dandelions and shrubs to replace rubber, new grains and more: Are alternative crops realistic?

By MELINA WALLING
Associated Press

Many companies, philanthropic organizations and national and international entities tout the promise of alternative crops to fight climate change. They fund initiatives promoting crops like sorghum and cassava, declare the “year of the millet” or give grants to researchers working on dandelions that could one day replace rubber. But while some of the researchers and farmers on the other side of that funding are optimistic about the potential of these crops and say they are important in certain parts of the world to fight hunger, they also say drastic changes would need to happen in markets and processing before we ever see fields full of these out-of-the-box plants — especially in the U.S., where and corn and soybeans remain dominant.