One of the threats associated with climate (both human-caused and the ordinary, run-of-the-mill kind) is the effect of drought on crops. Some interesting new research by a group at the University of California's Davis campus is looking at ways to genetically engineer a little more robustness into our food crops. From Gannett:

In one experiment at the University of California at Davis, the transgenic tobacco produced nearly as much seed as conventional plants on just 30 percent of the water.

In another experiment, the biotech plants were able to recover and thrive even after water had been withheld for two weeks. Conventional plants could not.

Eduardo Blumwald, one of the biologists working with the biotech tobacco, says the same technology can be used in a variety of crops, including corn, wheat and cotton.