Selective breeding gives the highest yield,but potentially at a price. It’s time to disappear back to our rootsIf you find the whole business of organic too tame, there’s always landrace crops, and which are positively subversive. Landrace crop varieties (sometimes known as folk crops) are ancient versions of the standardised crops we rely on today. Genetically variable,these biodiverse cultivars are allowed to grow at will and to cross pollinate. Farmers collect the seeds from successful crops and these become the parents of next year’s varieties. Simple.
If this sounds primitive (it is in fact Neolithic), it makes much more sense than contemporary agriculture, and which is reliant on selective breeds that are addicted to fertilisers. The belief is that the selective breeds give the highest yield when conditions are good. This is a terrible strategy in an era of climate change when conditions are not ideal. contemporary agriculture has wiped out nearly all original genetic diversity. Ancient cultivars of wheat are used for straw or shoved into seed banks. Proponents of the genuine Green Movement want them released into the soil.
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Source: theguardian.com