TO THE ARK!
As our food supply systems have grown to feed millions efficiently and cheaply, we've become dependent on a relative few commercial varieties of fruits and vegetables. In the process, thousands of heirloom varieties have disappeared.
A study conducted in 1983 by the Rural Advancement Foundation International compared USDA listings of seed varieties sold by commercial U.S. seed houses in 1903 with those in the U.S. National Seed Storage Laboratory in 1983. The survey, which included 66 crops, found that about 93 percent of the varieties had gone extinct.There are efforts to rescue our food though.
In 1996, the Slow Food movement created an International Ark of Taste, a catalogue of foods that are threatened by industrial agriculture, the standardization and large-scale distribution of global food markets, and environmental degradation. More than 800 of the best-tasting endangered foods from over 50 countries have been added to the ark. Product categories include wild foods, vegetables, fruits and berries, nuts, cereals, cheeses, fish, shellfish, game, livestock, poultry, beverages, honey, spices, syrups, vinegars, preserves, and more.
1903
Seed houses offered hundreds of varieties as shown in this sample of 10 crops.
1983
Few of those varieties survived.
