Even if two species existed that had similar soil, water and sun requirements, had similar properties regarding taste, processability, etc., it would still be easier to farm just one instead of breeding both for milennia and splitting the means of production.
Comment on i enjoy high fructose corn syrup too
MrFinnbean@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I mean there probably are lots of reasons why we farm only certain plants.
For example dewberries have short harvest window and as far as i know they need to be hand picked.
bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 1 day ago
Johandea@feddit.nu 19 hours ago
Until a disease pops up, that targets your only crop. Example A: bananas.
auraithx@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 hours ago
Blackberries are pretty rampant here in the UK. Always wondered why you guys didn’t have it- Seems they were banned in the US until recently due to some fungus.
RavingGrob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 hours ago
Just to be clear, you mean blackcurrants, yes? Blackberry means something quite different, at least over here.
auraithx@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 hours ago
No I meant blackberries. We have both over here commercially available.
RavingGrob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 hours ago
Ok, well I assure you, blackberries are, and never were banned in America. Blackcurrants were.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 19 hours ago
Yeah, I pick some every year. Also cherry plums grow quite a bit near me, along with some apple trees and loads of sloes.
ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 23 hours ago
Or why don’t we use all our technological, scientific and research knowledge to good use and engineer fruits and vegetables that can grow in less hospitable environments and can grow larger yields, have a longer growing season and have plenty of nutritional value.
Instead, we use all our knowledge and ability to build bigger, faster, more deadly weapons of war or AI that can micromonitor everyone’s lives or create slop and porn.
joshcodes@programming.dev 19 hours ago
Hi, I’m engaged to someone who studies chickpea and other legumes. Shitloads of money goes into agriculture every year and from my understanding, what you’re describing is being done by some brilliant people (I’m a bit biased). However there’s so many concerns around GMOs doing damage to the environment that it is tightly regulated. Doubly also, Americans don’t have the same ready access to grocery stores that
otherfirst world countries have.Plus the equivalent of flat earthers exist that believe that GMOs will kill us all and we need to go back to eating only what nature created (somewhat hyperbole, there are valid concerns but people have been irrational).
An example is that chickpea and other legumes reintroduces nitrogen into soil after it the soil loses vitality, which makes chickpea a good intermediate crop that can be grown in between others. Its high in nutrients. So yeah, stop eating corn and eat legumes.
(I’m not the molecular biologist so if I got stuff wrong, sorry, I will pay more attention when my partner speaks)
ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 19 hours ago
I remember reading years ago that a vegetarian diet is far more economical and sustainable than a meat based diet. Which is why I lowered my meat consumption years ago. I still eat meat, just not as much as I once did when I was younger.
Even if humanity didn’t cultivate new vegetables and fruits, the produce we have now is more than enough to feed the planet. I think I remember that it takes just a few acres of grown produce to feed one person per year if they ate a vegetarian diet … whereas it takes ten times more land area to feed a single cow to feed that one person for a year in meat and vegetables.
I try to eat my legumes, especially lentils, since they are high in protein … but by far the greatest benefit that a vegetarian diet provides is the health benefits from the consumption of fiber alone. Full vegetarian or high vegetarian diets all around are far healthier and sustainable for humanity and the environment.
Bluewing@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
There is one thing that people miss about that whole “10 acres to feed one cow” statement. Yep, it can take that much land. But what doesn’t get said is that one cow can take advantage of land that is unsuitable to grow crops on like tomatoes, peppers, and onions.
In the US, California produces more fresh produce every year than any other state can. But it comes at a high cost of farming land that really isn’t naturally suitable for growing those vegetables. Farmers need to pump millions of gallons of water on those acres to get those crops to grow. This in turn puts pressure on the supply of water to everyone else in the state. And much of this farmland had all it could do to grow grass in some years originally.
Aquifers are going starting to go dry because of this. The vast Ogilala aquifer that supplies water to almost all of the US west is starting to go dry. Because we now are farming land that probably be best left to growing grasses for cattle, sheep, or goats rather than tomatoes or soybeans.
MrFinnbean@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
I hate that i cant find anywhere studies that takes the manure used as a fertilizer account in their calculations. Atleast where i live 100% of the manure from the animals is used as a fertilizer on farms and store bought fertilizers are just supplement. Most countries cant produce fertilizer enough for their agricultural need and need to buy it from outside.
I would love some real research wich would be better for the enivorent. Stop meat produsing completelly or scale it down so farms get still some benefits like fertilizer and biogas for the vehicles, but people would not eat food on every meal.
phdepressed@sh.itjust.works 23 hours ago
We do both. The problem is corporations and stupid people. See Monsanto, the non-GMO push and the results of golden rice or similar.
ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 23 hours ago
I meant create a food crop that is actually beneficial to humanity … not some empty nutritionless white styrofoam or equally terrible frankenstein corn that simultaneously destroys the land and the people who eat this so called ‘food’.
MrFinnbean@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
Im not geneticist, but i grew up on a farm. I always grind my teeth when people talk about miragle plants with high yields.
The plants need to get their energy and nutritions from somewhere. If you just create gmo plant that can absorb nutrition better from soil it also means you need to fertilize that soil that much more and make the crop rotation that much faster, or risk making the fields arid.
But plants that survive larger temperature shifts, more extreme weathers and pest might be necessary for us in the not so far future. Lets just hope in the future those are used for humanitys betterment and not making rich richer.
jol@discuss.tchncs.de 23 hours ago
There are many reasons, but it all comes down to economics: how easy and cheap it is to farm and harvest, yield size, does it require refrigeration during transport, what’s the shelf life, etc. Unfortunately optimizing for economics rarely pairs well with user interests, e.g. How nutricious the food is.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 3 hours ago
About shelf life:
There’s this weird little apple tree, Prime Rouge. Every two years, he’s choke full (the other empty) of perfectly formed, perfectly red apples, optical flaws are rare. They are already edible in summer but get really succulent taste and a white flesh about two months later. The best apple breed i know, in texture, taste and look.
Buut they only keep about two months max, unlike the other breeds you have in your supermarket.
jol@discuss.tchncs.de 3 hours ago
Yeah, some apples I bought recently weirdly last a long time. The reason I know is that they tasted bad so I didn’t feel like eating them…
vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 17 hours ago
Which is why until modern farming some of the most nutritionally balanced people’s were hunter gatherers and pastoralists. The big advantage of farming vs ranching or pastoralism is that you can feed a lot of people for relatively little work, this rule of thumb is still true it’s just that we can now do it on such a massive scale that a lot of the downsides have simply been overwhelmed.