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>We should be moving away from monocultures in food, just as in software. We are, aren't we? You can go to a supermarket anywhere in North America and literall

>We should be moving away from monocultures in food, just as in software. We are, aren't we? You can go to a supermarket anywhere in North America and literally get whatever you want in abundant variety. I'm not sure how you can claim we aren't "moving away" from resource constraints that have existed for eternity. We've historically used a lot of wheat in products because we grow a lot of wheat. But there are plenty of alternatives now that never existed before.

voakbasda 4y ago
The variety you see in a Supermarket is very shallow. There are literally hundreds of varieties of every item you find in the produce section, but only handful are raised as scale. Those handful of varieties dominate the landscapes and dwarf the production of all of the other varieties combined.
- ElevenLathe 4y ago
  Also the whole middle of the store is just commodity corn, wheat, and soybeans rearranged in hundreds of different ways.
hourago 4y ago
> We are, aren't we? "There are more than 1 000 varieties of bananas produced and consumed locally in the world, but the most commercialized is the Cavendish type banana, which accounts for around 47 percent of global production." ... "Virtually all bananas supplied to the US and European markets are Cavendish, which are better suited to international trade than other varieties as they are more resilient to the effects of global travel." Just as an example. You may find three types of banana in your supermarket from the 1000 varities. But most of the production is Cavendish. The other ones are just a novelty item and it the logistics to get them to the supermarket are more complicated. "The impact of TR4 on food security in developing countries has so far luckily been limited because the spread of the disease is gradual at larger scale. The disease predominantly affects the Cavendish variety, which primarily meets the international market demand but is also important for local consumption in developing countries." And Cavendish is in danger. Partly because it is so dominant that it is very difficult to stop a disease that targets this variety. - https://www.fao.org/economic/est/est-commodities/oilcrops/bananas/bananafacts/en/ https://www.fao.org/economic/est/est-commodities/oilcrops/ba...
- PurpleRamen 4y ago
  Isn't the major reason why there is one dominating type today, because some decades ago the Panama disease mostly wiped out all other competing types?
  - kelipso 4y ago
    There was one dominant type at the time too, which the Panama disease wiped out, and it got replaced with the Cavendish.

voakbasda 4y ago

The variety you see in a Supermarket is very shallow. There are literally hundreds of varieties of every item you find in the produce section, but only handful are raised as scale. Those handful of varieties dominate the landscapes and dwarf the production of all of the other varieties combined.

ElevenLathe 4y ago
Also the whole middle of the store is just commodity corn, wheat, and soybeans rearranged in hundreds of different ways.

hourago 4y ago

> We are, aren't we? "There are more than 1 000 varieties of bananas produced and consumed locally in the world, but the most commercialized is the Cavendish type banana, which accounts for around 47 percent of global production." ... "Virtually all bananas supplied to the US and European markets are Cavendish, which are better suited to international trade than other varieties as they are more resilient to the effects of global travel." Just as an example. You may find three types of banana in your supermarket from the 1000 varities. But most of the production is Cavendish. The other ones are just a novelty item and it the logistics to get them to the supermarket are more complicated. "The impact of TR4 on food security in developing countries has so far luckily been limited because the spread of the disease is gradual at larger scale. The disease predominantly affects the Cavendish variety, which primarily meets the international market demand but is also important for local consumption in developing countries." And Cavendish is in danger. Partly because it is so dominant that it is very difficult to stop a disease that targets this variety. - https://www.fao.org/economic/est/est-commodities/oilcrops/bananas/bananafacts/en/ https://www.fao.org/economic/est/est-commodities/oilcrops/ba...

PurpleRamen 4y ago
Isn't the major reason why there is one dominating type today, because some decades ago the Panama disease mostly wiped out all other competing types?
- kelipso 4y ago
  There was one dominant type at the time too, which the Panama disease wiped out, and it got replaced with the Cavendish.