6 ms·

Breeding a "product" with a small gene pool, churning out monoculture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Michel_banana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Miche

Breeding a "product" with a small gene pool, churning out monoculture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Michel_banana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Michel_banana or a more imaginative corrective: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_A_virus_subtype_H7N9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_A_virus_subtype_H7N9 makes a plant based diet a very good hack indeed.

evgen 7y ago
You don't know what the word monoculture means until you stand in the middle of a soybean field in the midwest and see nothing but more soybeans (from the same small handful of varieties provided by giant seed companies) as far as the eye can see. Please do not imagine for one second that a plant-based diet increases biodiversity.
- hapidjus 7y ago
  Aren’t most of those soybeans used as feed for livestock?
  - dyeje 7y ago
    Is that relevant to the monoculture topic?
    - vegetablepotpie 7y ago
      Not OP, but land use due to animal feed is relevant to mono-culture because reducing land use for animal feed would free that land up for other uses (besides soy beans), either for other crops or to leave the land unutilized and left to nature.
      - evgen 7y ago
        The land would not be left unutilized or left to nature, and those same practices are used to produce all of your food. Take a drive down the central valley of California and the vast lettuce and fruit farms will have less genetic diversity than your backyard garden. Monoculture production is a consequence of efforts to increase production efficiency, regardless of the actual crop being produced.
- ictebres 7y ago
  The fact that we have so much monoculture soybean fields is that they make up the feed for the animals in Factory farming. Here is one link I just found that point out to the fact ‚70-75% of the world’s soy ends up as feed for chickens, pigs, cows, and farmed fish.‘: https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/stop-deforestation/drivers-of-deforestation-2016-soybeans https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/stop-deforestation/dri...
  - evgen 7y ago
    You could pick any plant humans consume and it is inevitable that the vast bulk of it would be produced in large, efficient, monoculture operations. The delusion of small farms producing 'heirloom' vegetables in copious variety is a bourgeoisie fantasy of the western middle-class who has come no closer to a real farm than the local Whole Foods. The soy in your tempeh and tofu comes from those same farms, the same operations produce the feedstock of your kale chips and organic lentil puffs. We have monoculture farming because it is efficient and people (not) surprisingly have decided that they have no interest in paying more for alternative production processes.
    - ictebres 7y ago
      We can’t conclude that this is the only way, especially with advanced automation or subsidies for ecological and sustainable agriculture. Furthermore animal farming must be the least efficient way to provide calories. So I don’t understand how you can talk down solid alternatives like tempeh or tofu. (BTW in the link i posted above it says human products take up 6% of soybean production.)
      - evgen 7y ago
        You can imagine any fantasy scenarios you want if it makes you feel any better, but nothing in the past century of agricultural progress has had a significant impact on the economic factors motivating the industry. Animal farming is not the most efficient way to provide calories, but humanity does not lack for calories. Livestock (excepting ruminants that graze on land that is unsuitable for farming) is a caloric aggregator, turning a large chunk of calories into a smaller volume that is easier to transport and more desired by the market. If you want that to change you need to meet the market's demands (c.f. the unicorn valuations of a few new fake meat companies...)
- perfmode 7y ago
  this is an uncharitable and weak argument against the consideration of plant based diets.

evgen 7y ago

You don't know what the word monoculture means until you stand in the middle of a soybean field in the midwest and see nothing but more soybeans (from the same small handful of varieties provided by giant seed companies) as far as the eye can see. Please do not imagine for one second that a plant-based diet increases biodiversity.

hapidjus 7y ago
Aren’t most of those soybeans used as feed for livestock?
- dyeje 7y ago
  Is that relevant to the monoculture topic?
  - vegetablepotpie 7y ago
    Not OP, but land use due to animal feed is relevant to mono-culture because reducing land use for animal feed would free that land up for other uses (besides soy beans), either for other crops or to leave the land unutilized and left to nature.
    - evgen 7y ago
      The land would not be left unutilized or left to nature, and those same practices are used to produce all of your food. Take a drive down the central valley of California and the vast lettuce and fruit farms will have less genetic diversity than your backyard garden. Monoculture production is a consequence of efforts to increase production efficiency, regardless of the actual crop being produced.
ictebres 7y ago
The fact that we have so much monoculture soybean fields is that they make up the feed for the animals in Factory farming. Here is one link I just found that point out to the fact ‚70-75% of the world’s soy ends up as feed for chickens, pigs, cows, and farmed fish.‘: https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/stop-deforestation/drivers-of-deforestation-2016-soybeans https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/stop-deforestation/dri...
- evgen 7y ago
  You could pick any plant humans consume and it is inevitable that the vast bulk of it would be produced in large, efficient, monoculture operations. The delusion of small farms producing 'heirloom' vegetables in copious variety is a bourgeoisie fantasy of the western middle-class who has come no closer to a real farm than the local Whole Foods. The soy in your tempeh and tofu comes from those same farms, the same operations produce the feedstock of your kale chips and organic lentil puffs. We have monoculture farming because it is efficient and people (not) surprisingly have decided that they have no interest in paying more for alternative production processes.
  - ictebres 7y ago
    We can’t conclude that this is the only way, especially with advanced automation or subsidies for ecological and sustainable agriculture. Furthermore animal farming must be the least efficient way to provide calories. So I don’t understand how you can talk down solid alternatives like tempeh or tofu. (BTW in the link i posted above it says human products take up 6% of soybean production.)
    - evgen 7y ago
      You can imagine any fantasy scenarios you want if it makes you feel any better, but nothing in the past century of agricultural progress has had a significant impact on the economic factors motivating the industry. Animal farming is not the most efficient way to provide calories, but humanity does not lack for calories. Livestock (excepting ruminants that graze on land that is unsuitable for farming) is a caloric aggregator, turning a large chunk of calories into a smaller volume that is easier to transport and more desired by the market. If you want that to change you need to meet the market's demands (c.f. the unicorn valuations of a few new fake meat companies...)
perfmode 7y ago
this is an uncharitable and weak argument against the consideration of plant based diets.