Save Our Citrus!

[Dannyalcatraz]

Seems there's a nasty, nasty bug going around, endangering the entire new-world citrus industry:

http://news.yahoo.com/incurable-disease-threatens-us-citrus-crop-151308978.html

I consume an average of at least 1-2 pieces of citrus a day...

 

[Scott DeWar]

I've been watching this news develop. This is so not good.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

There was a fungus (I believe it was) that wiped out the most popular banana species in the world- it became the inspiration for the song, "Yes, we have no bananas". There is a similar one going through the banana crop again.

But this looks even more aggressive.

 

[Scott DeWar]

Did you know that all of the grapes in southern France come from California? A blight, aphids I think, made all of the vines to be dug up and destroyed. They got new starters from vineyards there.

 

[Umbran]

It is all a notable complication of large-scale agriculture. When we plant so many of basically the same type of plants together, the potential for development and rampage by various illnesses in the plants is heightened substantially. We might be well-served to switch up our cultivars more frequently - a bit of change for change's sake, so to speak.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Its not just that- one side effect of global agriculture is that our breeding programs have severely bottlenecked the genetic variation in certain species.

Look at the big crops- grains, grapes, certain fruits, etc.- and you'll find that there may be only about 10% of the number of species available on any major scale as there were 100 years ago. Those strains were bred to be shipped to the world, so they're easier to cultivate under most conditions, easier to get to market, have longer ripeness "sweet spots" and are more pest resistant...

...until Mother Nature throws us a wicked slider like what happened in the grapes, bananas, and now in the citrus.

Which is one reason why I'm glad to see small-scale farmers trying to resurrect "heritage" crops in things like bananas and tomatoes. Bust the genetic bottleneck!

Besides, if you're a foodie of any kind, you'll note that one other side effect of the breeding programs has been some loss of flavor, which most don't realize until they taste something grown from a near-extinct lineage.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5609e/y5609e02.htm

 

[Umbran]

Its not just that- one side effect of global agriculture is that our breeding programs have severely bottlenecked the genetic variation in certain species.

I think we're saying much the same thing, coming at it from different directions.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I think I was expending on your statement- its not just that we're not planting a variety of stuff, we've actually bred some stuff virtually out of existence, precluding us from planting them ever again.

 

[Scott DeWar]

I think that if you two keep at it, you guys might actually come up with a viable solution.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Nah- nobody listens to me, unless:

1) I have said something utterly without commercial value

2) I have said something potentially worth millions, but hey can use he idea without crediting or compensating me.

I've had ideas of mine show up on Paris runways, novelty stores and, most recently offered as a new product from a financial institution.