- Diets may seem diverse, but look more closely.
- Most crops bred to be uniform. Less resilient systems as a result.
- All seed in UK needs to be identical.
- Crops bred for easy food manufacturing, not nutrition.
- Locked into reliance on artificial fertiliser.
- Diversity of crops and varieties is good for environment and human health.
At first glance, many people may assume because they eat many different types of food, their diet is diverse. In reality, when you look closer at the genetic diversity of our main food types, there is an underlying genetic uniformity that is all too frequently overlooked. This has serious implications for the sustainability of our food systems.
Most of the foods that we eat are bred to be uniform. Retailers and food manufacturers all want uniform, homogenous crops. This is the only way that large scale production and processing works. Imagine you were a large-scale baker. You've spent millions on a manufacturing process. In order for it to work, the characteristics of each batch of flour therefore needs to be uniform.
For context, all seed sold in the UK (and therefore planted) needs to confirm to Distinctiveness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) regulation (i.e. they need to all be identical). Seed crops are inspected to ensure that they meet these standards. Therefore, for anyone trying to do anything different, there are a number of regulatory challenges to deal with.
Whilst this may seem perfectly reasonable and a price worth paying for cheap loaves of bread or knowing what your crops are going to look like, it means that varieties of crops have been bred over decades to produce certain "desirable" characteristics, at the expense of everything else.
Although this brings benefits for food companies, food manufacturers and retailers, there are significant consequences to this homogenisation of what we eat. Using milling wheat as an example, the main aim for breeders in most cases, is to help farmers achieve a set protein threshold of >13% (or else the crop will go for animal feed). This protein level is essential for the large-scale Chorleywood baking process (how almost all supermarket loaves are made).
What's the issue then? Well, in order to get those high protein levels, large amounts of artificial nitrogen fertiliser needs to be applied. Wheat varieties are generally bred to depend on large amounts of fossil fuel-based fertiliser. In turn, this leads to higher greenhouse gas emissions from growing the wheat. There are very few varieties that are bred to thrive in low-input farming systems, as simply put, this isn't where the money is.
Other characteristics like nutrient levels and digestibility of the gluten are not valued in this process. Researchers are now increasingly linking the changes to gluten composition in modern wheat varieties to a rise in gluten "intolerance" (although this needs more work). There are also concerns about the impact of lower levels of micronutrients in modern wheat varieties too, although again, this needs more work.
Global grain production relies on a small number of crop varieties. Each of these varieties has its own susceptibility to particular pests or diseases, making the system vulnerable. With a reduction in diversity, this vulnerability increases.
In recent years, there's been a growing recognition of the importance of improving diversity in crop production, in the context of developing a resilient food system. At a more general level, the greater variety of crops grown, the greater the variety of potential habitat for wildlife and other organisms. A typical arable farm in England might only grow three different crops (maybe just two), so anything that can be done to increase this, is a good thing.
I was lucky enough to be involved in the development of the Wakelyns "YQ" population of wheat. Rather than a single variety, pioneering researcher Martin Wolfe, cross-bred 20 different wheat varieties (both old and modern) to combine all their genetic characteristics. This was grown and re-sown over multiple years, to create a constantly evolving living "population" of wheat, with incredible levels of diversity. Essentially, this is the complete opposite of a uniform wheat variety.
The idea with this approach is that in the population you will have some plants with good resistance to drought, others with good resistance to disease or pests. Some will yield well, others will be great for baking. The farmer saves some of the grain each year to use as seed and the population evolves over time, to suit the individual conditions. You may not get the largest harvest each year, but it makes for a more resilient crop and importantly, one that doesn't rely on chemical inputs.
From a human health perspective, diversity of plants is a good thing. Tim Spector advocates consuming 30 different types of plants and seeds each week. the good news it, you can tick off 10 of these with a bowl of Oliver's Muesli!
Part of the aim of Oliver's Muesli is to be able to help support the growing of a diverse range of crops (and varieties). My muesli includes a diverse range of grains and seeds, that aren't normally grown in the UK (thanks Hodmedod's) and I'm looking forward to being able to expand this.