Planting fields with a variety of strains of each plant makes for a resilient crop in the face of global warming. But global markets create other priorities? Nick Easen writes.
Few people have heard of population crops, yet fields full of a diversity of plants – rather than the monocultures we currently grow – could be a silver bullet in the fight to make farming more resilient and adaptable to climate change. So why aren’t we planting more of them?
Most of the food farmed in the UK comes from incredibly uniform crops, where every plant is genetically similar and regimented. Consistency is good for farmers and the supply chain – you know what you’re getting when a field ripens and is then mechanically harvested all at the same time. Supply chains insist on standardisation. In fact seed uniformity is a legal requirement in the UK.
with increasing climate extremes it makes more sense to grow crops with a higher degree of genetic diversity
But with increasing climate extremes it makes more sense to grow crops with a higher degree of genetic diversity. With many different varieties in a field, there are more traits available to tackle, say, a drought, floods, soil fluctuations, or new diseases. If one plant fails another thrives – this mimics nature’s natural variability and resilience. It’s the population that adapts and then delivers.
Population crops already exist for wheat, oats, maize, barley, and rye; think heirloom tomatoes that are also celebrated for their diversity. Quinoa is effectively a population crop. One UK seed network has called them: “one of the most promising developments within organic farming this century.”
Agroecological growers are particularly interested in population crops because they are more likely to thrive in fields that aren’t drenched uniformly with agrochemicals. A higher degree of variability is valued when crops are grown on soils with differing nutrient levels. Population crops are also more resilient to disease or weeds in the absence of blanket pesticide or herbicides treatments.
“They are an exciting alternative to traditional crop development and have so much potential. Diverse populations can buffer any environmental variability naturally, so therefore the crop relies less on chemical inputs for buffering,” explains Dr. Charlotte Bickler, Policy Manager at the Organic Research Centre, who also works with the UK Grain Lab.
She adds: “These types of crops may also have better nutrient scavenging ability from soils because they have a diversity of root traits. This raises questions around better nutrient content as well.”
Taking back sovereignty
The good news is that seed from population crops can be retained and planted year after year. There is also potential for each seed microbiome to adapt and evolve to local conditions and environmental variability on the farm over time – but there’s little evidence yet to show this in the field.
It also means farmers aren’t constrained by the intellectual property rights that now dominate the seed industry in the UK. “Globalised seed and feed businesses control pretty much all seed production now. These same big, centralised businesses dominate all the agrochemicals as well. These two things are not unrelated and that really limits the choice that farmers have about what they’re going to plant, and consequently this reduces the choices to do with what we eat,” states Josiah Meldrum, co-founder of Hodmedod’s Wholefoods.
Britain’s current poster child for population crops is YQ Wheat, which you can now buy as flour from Hodmedod’s Wholefoods or Cotswold Flour for example. It has around 180 different lines or types of wheat. The crop has good quality and yield stability due to its diversity, as well as the capacity to cope with a changing environment. It is also good at competing with weeds.
YQ Wheat is a drop in the ocean compared to the handful of wheat cultivars and monocultures that are planted across the UK every year
It was the first population crop to undergo commercial trials for breadmaking and was pioneered by the late Professor Martin Wolfe from Wakelyns Agroforestry and the Organic Research Centre. But YQ Wheat is a drop in the ocean compared to the handful of wheat cultivars and monocultures that are planted across the UK every year.
So, why aren’t we planting more? Questions over yields still resonate. Also the entire seed certification process in the UK is based on single varieties, where genetic uniformity is the objective. This is a legacy system developed after World War II to promote higher levels of production, protect food supplies, as well as promote unified standards and discourage unscrupulous seed sellers. It is a system that persists today.
“We’ve had this particular vision for decades that uniform, high input, high output farming is the way to do things. Now there’s laws in place to protect that system, which then limits the ability for population crops to emerge,” details Dr Bickler.
The gene-editing money machine
At the moment, there’s only a temporary piece of legislation in place allowing the trade of genetically diverse seeds. In 2030 this ends and those looking to promote population crops may have to cease growing and trading unless there’s a change in the law by policymakers.
It doesn’t help that all the attention today is focused on gene-edited or precision-bred crops, which some see as GM or genetic modification by the back door. Population crops used to get government funding, but that’s dried up.
“There’s now huge investment going into precision breeding. No wonder it looks as though its doing well, while we’ve been scraping around for decades to find funding. Big seed companies have a money making machine that’s now focused on gene-edited crops. It means there will be even greater control of intellectual property rights and patents on future seeds,” points out Dr Bickler from the Organic Research Centre.
She adds: “With momentum from the UK government and big business to develop gene-editing, it means there’s no space for population crop development. The big globalised seed companies say gene-editing is a key solution to climate change and low-input farming. This is complete rubbish because we’re dealing with complex traits and unpredictable environments that evolve over time. We have to give nature a chance and the ability to use the tools that it already has, working with populations crops to enhance their robustness.”
Across the UK there’s been very limited funding for the breeding of any organic crops.
Across the UK there’s been very limited funding for the breeding of any organic crops. Much more investment is needed. In Europe there is the LiveSeeding project and in the UK there is the Local Alternative Seed Networks and the Seed Sovereignty Programme. Those active in developing population crops are keen to develop a system that has integrity and promotes quality, just not uniformity.
“We haven’t necessarily cracked how that would work with these more diverse crops. There are technical challenges around how we would integrate population crops into our current system – or do we need a completely new system?” questions Dr Bickler.
Time for a makeover
Population crops certainly need better marketing, advertising, and promotion, as well, in order to spur on demand, particularly for the final produce available to the consumer. Meldrum from Hodmedod’s believes it involves a mind shift, introducing people and the food industry to the benefits of variability, away from the uniformity that the supermarkets and big food and seed brands sell.
“Small bakeries are now forming particular relationships with farmers that are growing crops such as YQ Wheat. This uniqueness gives the baker something really specific to promote to their customers, but it also gives the farmer a really consistent higher value,” explains Meldrum.
“Climate tipping points have also arrived and I think being able to communicate that through more resilient crops and something that tastes delicious, which you can have in your own kitchen and eat, is a powerful narrative.”
At the moment there are more opportunities in cereal crops, since variability in legumes are likely to affect mechanical harvesting. It means that population crops in vegetables and horticulture are more suited to handpicked, small-scale market gardens.
“There is certainly an opportunity to bring at least a little more diversity through planting more mixtures in fields. Selecting four or five varieties that offer a broader spectrum of resilience, yet they still mature at roughly the same time is a good thing. Population crops offer some great answers to some key challenges and that’s an incredibly hopeful thing,” concludes Meldrum.
This was originally published by Wicked Leeks here.
