Advances in Seed Priming : Springer : 9789811300318 : 9811300313 : 22 Jun 2018 : Most crop plants grow in environments that are suboptimal, which prevents the plants from attaining their full genetic potential for growth and reproduction. Stress due to abiotic and biotic agents has a significant effect on world food production. Annually, an estimated 15% of global yields are lost, but this figure belies far greater losses for specific food systems and the people whose existence is dependent upon them, particularly in developing countries. Current efforts to mitigate these losses are worryingly over-reliant on the use of sophisticated and costly chemicals /measures with substantial economic and environmental costs, or on the development of efficient and smart crop varieties, which can take decades. What we need is a broad range of safe, robust and equitable solutions for food producers. One under-investigated approach is that of utilizing the crop plant's innate immune system to resist