Due to global warming, food shortage have become more and more serious through consistently increased temperature as well as less and less precipitation or even drought which greatly restricts the survival of crops, resulting in serious food shortages. However, cacti can survive living at high temperatures without much water. Beside the way their stem and leaves grow, they have two other characteristics to help them survive in such conditions for which other crops could also adopt. One of them is the water storage root system which often contains tubers or bulbs, the other one is that they tend to collect and store CO2 during night so that they don’t have to do it in the morning which would mean more moisture loss.

However, if we could engineer the DNA of crops by inserting drought resistant genes or making the plants develop different types of root systems that store water this would help the crops survive harsh conditions over long periods of time. This would allow us to provide a more consistent food supply to people in drought-prone areas.