Wildly stronger sunflowers
Annually, diseases, weeds, and insects are estimated to cause more than $1.3 billion in losses for sunflower growers. To combat this, researchers are preserving the genetic diversity of wild sunflowers. Wild plants retain the genes needed to resist pests and survive in different environments. Ref. Source 5p.
While changing some of the plants to make them more resistant to bugs and disease are you going to make the sunflower seeds inedible to humans? With many people buying lots of sunflower seeds each yet it would hurt the industry a lot if the seeds are then made inedible. I hope they can find a way for it to all work out.