MARIO RITTER: And I’m Mario Ritter with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special
English. Today we tell about concerns about plant life, including
agricultural crops. And we tell about efforts to keep them growing in the
years to come.
(MUSIC)
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Agricultural experts say crop diversity is important
to feed the increasing population of our planet. They say having a large
variety of plants also helps to protect against possible crop diseases and
future crises.
Hundreds of thousands of different plants now exist. But many experts say
the number has decreased sharply during the past century.
One of the world’s largest seed conservation projects has predicted
further losses. The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership is warning that up to
one hundred thousand plant species could permanently disappear. The rich
collection of genes that decide their qualities would disappear with them.
MARIO RITTER: Many experts blame climate change and loss of habitat,
normal growth area, for damaging plant life. They say human activities and
poorly planned, overly heavy use of land also are responsible.
Paul
Wallace of Petaluma Seed Bank looks at heirloom seeds. Many are
traditional varieties passed down from generation to generation.
The United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization says modern business farming is responsible for
loss of farmers’ traditional crop varieties. The “Green Revolution” of the
twentieth century changed agriculture. Some experts say the use of modern
commercial farming methods saved millions of people from starvation.
Farmers planted, watered, and fertilized their crops with the help of
machines. They treated their fields with chemicals to control insects and
diseases. Harvests grew larger and higher quality.
But another result was that some traditional crops were lost.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: The Food and Agriculture Organization says about two
hundred fifty thousand plant species are now known to exist. The FAO notes
that today, thirty thousand plant species could be eaten. Still, it says,
only seven thousand have been used for food.
About one hundred twenty crops are grown to feed humans. The FAO says nine
of those crops provide seventy five percent of human food. Rice, wheat and
maize are said to supply more than half of human food.
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MARIO RITTER: Not all experts agree that a decrease in cultivated food
crops is a crisis. A recent study showed a different situation, at least
in the United States. The study examined records of plant varieties in
America during the past century.
The study was the project of Paul Heald of the University of Illinois
College of Law and Susannah Chapman of the Anthropology Department at the
University of Georgia. They found that the total number of vegetable and
apple crop varieties in the United States did not fall over the past
century. Instead, Professor Heald says, the study may show a small
increase in the number of varieties.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Professor Heald and Ms. Chapman examined records of
forty-two thousand vegetable crops. The crops were grown from nineteen
three to two thousand four. They also studied apple variety records from
nineteen hundred to two thousand.
Some scientists and others blame patenting for what they say are losses of
crop diversity. But the study did not find that plant patents influenced
the number of newly created plants. The researchers said they did not make
a major change in the number.
A patent is the legal right of an inventor to a process or a product, even
a plant. To get this right, the inventor has to demonstrate the qualities
that make the patented plant different from other plants. The inventor
must show that the plant has been reproduced asexually. This usually means
that the plant is cut or its tissues have been connected to another plant.
MARIO RITTER: Asexual reproduction proves that the inventor can reproduce
the plant. Grafting is a way to produce plants from parts of existing
plants instead of seeds, which cannot be used. Branches or buds are cut
from one plant and placed on another plant.
American patent law says a new version of plant also can be discovered,
but only on land used for growing. Wild plants in nature cannot be
patented. They do not belong to any one owner.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: The two researchers looked at three dates when laws
protecting the rights of patent holders took effect. For example, seeds
were first patented in nineteen seventy. The researchers say that, as they
examined the records, they kept waiting for the number of new plant
varieties to drop. But that did not happen. Instead, Mr. Heald says, they
had a surprise.
PAUL HEALD: “We decided there is, there is, something wrong here,
something wrong with the conventional story.”
MARIO RITTER: Paul Heald says he thinks damage to the environment over the
past century makes people believe that crop diversity also suffered.
PAUL HEALD: ”There is no doubt that the twentieth century was an
environmental disaster. Our normal assumptions I think about almost all
environmental issues is that the news is bad.”
Instead, he says, the development of new plant varieties is something to
feel good about. The professor adds that new kinds of plants develop as a
result of unofficial activities. He says immigrants, seed collectors,
small farmers and local gardeners all keep and start new varieties.
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CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Today, many individuals and groups worldwide are
working to guarantee plant life for the future. One method for doing so is
called “in situ”, meaning “in place.” In situ preservation means a plant
is grown in its normal environment. Another method is called “ex situ.” In
ex situ, the plant is removed from its normal growing area and its seeds
collected.
Shannon Carmody is with the Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa. There, workers
grow and keep plants both ex situ, in seed collections, and in situ, on
the farm’s three hundred sixty hectares.
MARIO RITTER: The grounds around Heritage Farms are hilly. Ms. Carmody
says the hills help protect the plant life.
In her words, “We have these valleys, and then gardens on either side.
They create a kind of natural barrier. The barrier lets us prevent
cross-pollination of all our different varieties that we preserve here.”
Cross-pollination means the movement of pollen from one plant to another.
If that happens, it could change the genetic structure of the plants.
Heritage Farm saves material from plants that can be regenerated -- grown
again. Regeneration can be gained using seeds, bulbs or roots. The farm
keeps seeds for heirloom and open-pollinated fruit and vegetable plants.
Open pollination means pollination by wind, insects, birds and other
natural methods.
The Heritage Farm collection does not include potatoes, which are not
regenerated by seed.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Experts differ about how to describe an “heirloom.”
Each variety differs from others in its genes. Heirlooms are usually
passed down over time from one family or gardening group to another. Some
are hundreds of years old. Insects or the wind often open-pollinate
heirlooms.
Some heirloom fruits and vegetables have names like Green Nutmeg Melon and
Cowhorn Okra. Others are Black Beauty Eggplant, Blue Curled Scotch Kale
and Black Krimson Tomato.
At Heritage Farm or anywhere else, an heirloom garden in bloom promises a
colorful sight.
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MARIO RITTER: Heritage Farm is the headquarters of Seed Savers Exchange, a
not-for-profit group. It was established in nineteen seventy-five to save
and share heirloom seeds. It also works to educate people about the need
for genetic diversity.
Seed Savers Exchange has thousands of versions of different plant types.
Its collection is one of the largest seed banks of its kind in North
America.
Last year, Seed Savers Exchange donated two hundred seventy-one heirloom
seed varieties to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, far above Norway. The
vault opened in February of two thousand eight. Since then, the exchange
has stored one thousand six hundred sixty open-pollinated heirloom seed
varieties in the storage center.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Svalbard protects plant varieties against permanent
loss from accidents, wars and natural disasters. Placing seeds in the
vault also can prevent their loss through equipment failure or financial
failures of gene banks and plant museums.
The Norwegian government built the seed vault into the side of an icy
mountain. The vault is kept at under minus eighteen and eight-tenths
degrees Celsius. At that temperature, officials say, seeds can last many
years even if cooling power is lost.
Svalbard can hold more than four million different seed samples. Each
sample contains five hundred seeds. The seeds are backups, or copies, of
the varieties stored by seed banks around the world.
(MUSIC)
MARIO RITTER: This program was written by Jerilyn Watson. I’m Mario
Ritter.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: And I’m Christopher. Join us again next week for more
Explorations in VOA Special English.
