It’s fascinating to consider how much of food isn’t part of our diet simply because it doesn’t lend itself to large scale monoculture or has a higher production

It’s fascinating to consider how much of food isn’t part of our diet simply because it doesn’t lend itself to large scale monoculture or has a higher production cost than alternatives. After all, weeds are only unwanted plants, and ultimately, crops are simply wanted weeds, as they discuss. The larger point is to bring an agricultural system that is sustainable in the long term (very long term), through the inevitable climate shifts that we know occur reliably and whatever the impact of human "enhancements" turn out to be — and which is looking pretty dramatic these days. Coming back into balance with nature is critical, and learning to view ourselves not as separate from the earth but part of the big life support system ultimately leads towards a positively focused, sustainable future. The authors point about this is really worth considering: > Consequently, most breeders are only evaluating a small percentage of the available germplasm for things like disease resistance or cooking characteristics—not for environmental resilience. I wonder whether LLMs will assist in this work? It won’t be a commercial opportunity for some time, but it’s critical that we start getting good at cataloging what we have and could create to make the balance work in a pragmatic way.