June 25, 1991

THE farmers of the world, harvesting the abundant crops of the Green Revolution, have so far defied Malthusian predictions that population growth would outrun agricultural production and consign much of humanity to chronic famine. But scientists say the diverse varieties of traditional crops and wild plants they need to breed more productive new strains are in jeopardy. In the field, farmers are abandoning them in favor of the new high-yield varieties. Wild strains of agricultural plants are disappearing as development destroys their habitat. And lack of funds, lack of care and political upheaval threaten the collections of seeds, in "banks" around the world, in which much of the remaining genetic diversity is stored.

Chancellor Helmut Kohl will meet with Mikhail S. Gorbachev of the Soviet Union in advance of the meeting of the seven leading industrial democracies in July to persuade the Soviet leader to accept free-market reforms bold enough to generate a major infusion of Western aid. A Bonn spokesman said today that the two leaders would meet in Kiev on July 5, 10 days before the seven-nation meeting in London.

Companies Wachovia will buy South Carolina National in a stock swap valued at $835 million. The acquisition will increase Wachovia's assets to $32.7 billion, placing it among the 20 biggest banking companies in the country. [ Page D1. ]

The Supreme Court today issued the latest, and in some respects the most sweeping, of several decisions sharply constricting the ability of state prison inmates to pursue appeals in Federal courts. The 6-to-3 opinion overturned a 1963 landmark ruling of the Warren Court era that had guaranteed the right of state prison inmates, under most circumstances, to challenge the constitutionality of a conviction or sentence in Federal court. These challenges, petitions for writs of habeas corpus, are filed after state court appeals have been exhausted. Emphasis on State Procedures The 1963 decision, Fay v. Noia, was written by Justice William J. Brennan Jr., who retired from the Court last July. It held that Federal courts were bound to consider habeas corpus petitions even from inmates who had failed for some reason to appeal their case properly in the state courts, as long as the inmate had not "deliberately bypassed" the state's appeals process.

The Tandy Corporation said today that weakened sales of personal computers in both the United States and Europe would slice its earnings from operations by more than 50 percent in the current quarter, well below Wall Street's expectations. The company also said it would begin selling popular brand-name products from other manufacturers in its Radio Shack electronics stores. Such sales will initially be tested in a limited number of stores. Analysts said the decision marked an overdue break with tradition at Tandy, the nation's largest retailer of consumer electronic products.