DIVERSITY KILLS!

Washington International Study Papers ^ | 5/1/02 | Unknown

[scouse]

How agricultural biodiversity is disappearing

It is not only biodiversity in nature that is declining; there are also increasingly fewer varieties of plants and animals being used in agriculture. Of the hundreds of varieties of crops such as onions and lettuce, only a few now remain. In an attempt to turn the tide, gene banks and new users such as organic and regional farmers' cooperatives are seeking cooperation.

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The diversity in agricultural crops has decreased alarmingly in the last century. There is no comprehensive overview of the decrease, but there are indications. Figures from the collections of the American National Seed Storage Lab (NSSL) show that of the 463 varieties of radish in use in 1903 only 27 remained by 1983, and of the 109 varieties of spinach only seven (see table 1). Elsewhere the decreases are just as dramatic. In 1959 over one thousand rice varieties were still grown in Sri Lanka; now there are about one hundred left.

Variety within farm livestock is also pretty dismal. According to the United Nations one traditional livestock breed dies out every day. Sixteen percent of the original 3831 breeds of cattle, water buffalo, goats, pigs, sheep, horses and donkeys have now disappeared, and fifteen percent are considered rare breeds. Thirty percent of the genetic resources for farm livestock are at risk of extinction.

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But loss of agricultural biodiversity can be dangerous, as history has already taught. Uniformity is not necessarily risky, but if large areas are planted with one crop variety, a fatal disease can wipe out a whole variety, with disastrous consequences. During the Irish potato famine in the 1840s one and a half million people died because phytophthora wiped out the genetically uniform potato crop of the whole of northwest Europe and North America. More recently, in 1984 eighteen million citrus trees in Florida succumbed to one disease.

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It is hardly surprising that biodiversity is declining in modern agriculture; our diet is not that varied. Of the seven thousand different plants eaten by humans only one hundred and fifty varieties are of commercial importance. Ninety percent of the food crops grown come from 103 varieties, and just three types of grain (rice, wheat and maize) are responsible for sixty percent of the calories that humans obtain from plants.

Snippets from article posted at address

[scouse]

According to the United Nations one traditional livestock breed dies out every day.

If'n it works fer them can it do likewise fer us'n?

[ancient_geezer]

If'n it works fer them can it do likewise fer us'n?

Yep, yer on your way out.

http://www.menshealthnetwork.org/library/mortality_age_sex.pdf

Life Expectancy At Birth, 1998 *

Classification   Life Expectancy
Population                  76.7
All females                 79.5
All males                   73.8
White females               80.0
Black females               74.8
White males                 74.5
Black males                 67.6

* National Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 48, No. 11, July 24, 2000, pages 5-6

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

Uh, you want something along the lines of birthrates, dude. You might as well have posted stats on favorite movies.

[sockmonkey]

Oh, just today, I bought some heirloom varieties of plants from Manna Farms in Hunt, TX. In truth, I was looking for old timey taste, and not thinking so much of biodiversity, and organic, although these are organically grown plants.

[ancient_geezer]

Uh, you want something along the lines of birthrates, dude.

Here yah go dude, the picture remains unchanged. White Males are an endangered species.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvs48_3.pdf Page 30:

Table 6. Live births, birth rates, and fertility rates by origin of mother:
United States, 1998
Measure                            All origins   Hispanic     Non-Hispanic
                                   Total         Total        Total      White      Black

Number ........................... 3,941,553     734,661      3,158,975  2,361,462  593,127
Birth rate, Live births/1000...... 14.6          24.3         13.4       12.3       18.2
Fertility rate, Live births/1000.. 65.6          101.1        60.7       57.7       73.0

30 National Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 48, No. 3, March 28, 2000