There are almost half a million known plant species, and more still to be discovered. Yet we now rely on just 15 to provide 90 per cent of our food crops.
Seeds of Medicago polymorpha (Toothed Bur Clover), native of the Mediterranean, now more widespread, help fix nitrogen in the soil.
Corporate globalization has promoted the ‘proprietary’ (patented) commercial seed market – and an ever-smaller number of ever-bigger seed companies.
Wild seeds still carry most of the genetic diversity that remains. They are essential to the improvement and adaptation of cultivated crops. However, as wilderness shrinks and industrial agriculture expands, so the diversity of crops has declined.
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