WHAT: Development of the first genetically engineered tomato
plant that thrives in salty irrigation water will be announced by a UC Davis plant biologist.

As the first truly salt-tolerant crop, these tomato plants
offer hope that other crops can also be genetically modified
for planting in many areas of the world that have salty
irrigation water and salt-damaged soils.

WHEN: 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, July 31

WHERE: Orchard Park greenhouse complex, UC Davis

VISUALS: Shots in greenhouse of researcher explaining how
salty irrigation water damages plants and why the genetically
engineered tomato plants are not vulnerable to such damage.
Reporters who choose to may then follow the researcher back
to his laboratory for shots of how such plants are
genetically engineered.

BACKGROUND: Worldwide an estimated 24.7 million acres --
about one-fifth the area of California -- of once
agriculturally productive land are being lost annually
because of irrigation-induced salinity. Crop production is
limited by salinity on 40 percent of the world's irrigated
land and on 25 percent of irrigated land in the United
States.

This progressive loss of farmable land is on a collision
course with the expanding global population, which over the
next 30 years is expected to require an increase in food
production of 20 percent in developed countries and 60
percent in developing nations.

Although scientists have been trying to develop salt-tolerant
crop varieties using selective breeding techniques throughout
the past century, none of those efforts has proven
successful.

DIRECTIONS AND PARKING: From Interstate 80, take Highway 113
north toward Woodland. Exit at the first opportunity onto
Hutchison Drive and continue to the right toward the main
campus. At the stoplight, turn left onto La Rue Road. At the
next stoplight, turn left onto Orchard Park Drive. As you
approach the first street to your left, park along Orchard
Park Drive. To park free, place a media business card on the
dashboard of your vehicle. The greenhouses are to your left.