Biodiversity in Vegetable Gardening
Commercial agriculture practices and the evolution of genetically modified food crops has resulted in a dramatic reduction of genetic diversity in vegetables. Greater biodiversity in vegetable crops leads to a healthier and more sustainable ecosystem. Does this Spark an idea?
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Heirloom Varieties
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Heirloom tomatoes are bursting with flavor. By growing our own heirloom varieties of vegetables and saving seed year after year, genetic biodiversity is preserved. Heirloom vegetables do not have the uniform appearance or size of commercially produced vegetables. Their taste is more intense because breeding for durability in commercial produce overcomes the genes that produce flavor.
Extinction
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Our modern methods for breeding food crops have resulted in the extinction of many vegetable varieties. Throughout the history of agriculture there have been approximately 7,000 species of plants available as food crops, as stated in an article on the Sustainable Table website, but now 90 percent of commercial mass production is provided by only 15 species.
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Consequences
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The issue of being a mono crop society will result in the extinction of traditional genetic diversity. Groups around the world are working hard to teach people how to save seeds from ancient crops to preserve their genetic heritage, avoid crop extinction and maintain healthy ecosystems that have great genetic diversity.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit DC Productions/Photodisc/Getty Images tomatoes image by Maria Brzostowska from Fotolia.com
