06 November 2007

Forget about multi-culturalism...

Here's the sort of diversity we should really be worried about...
As farms have become more commercialized in recent decades and have moved toward growing one to two high-yield crops, the number of varieties globally is quickly diminishing, erasing plant genes at the very moment in history when they may be most needed.

That has left Europe's backyard gardeners and small farmers, like Boscherini, as the de facto guardians of disappearing fruits, grains and vegetables. And time is working against them. These men are mostly very old.

When they die, their plants are dying with them.