Compassion Speaks: Food, Glorious and Endangered

by M. Doretta Cornell, RDC

On a recent walk in the Rockefeller Park Preserve, after being away for a few weeks, I was astounded by how much everything had grown.  The grasses, bushes, and trees were full and lush, bending under the weight of leaves and fruit.  The paths were littered with acorns and others nuts.

Fish popped ripples in Swan Lake; ducks and turtles bobbed for invisible tidbits.  Blue jays and sparrows (and other birds I could hear but not see) rustled from tree to tree.  A young stag with three inches of antler browsed a short way off a path, too busy gobbling leaves to give me more than a glance.  Another deer, visible only as ears above a shrub, kept eating.  Everywhere food grew, abundant and rich.

The contrast with what I had read before my walk threw me into a sort of double vision: the current issue of Carbon Rangers/Ecozoic Times, put out by Kevin Cawley, of the Edmund Rice Brothers (of Iona in New Rochelle).  The topic for this month is Climate and Food.   

The State of Food Today
One article, “Our Dwindling Food Variety,” offers a graphic Illustration, from National Geographic, of the decrease in varieties of vegetables in the past century.

A couple of examples:  Of 288 varieties of beets available in the United States in 1903, only 17 varieties were catalogued in 1983.  (Who knew there were so many kinds of beets?)  Of 497 varieties of lettuce, only 36 remained available eighty years later.   Of 408 kinds of tomatoes, only 36 survived;  of 544 kinds of cabbage, only 28.

The chart shows that, between 1903 and 1983, among the sixty-six kinds of vegetables surveyed, 93% of the varieties were extinct – and that was 30 years ago!   International agribusiness corporations have spread widely since then, especially after the various “Free Trade” agreements.  NAFTA, for instance, made huge quantities of U.S. government-subsidized corn, mostly of one variety, into Mexican markets.  This cheaper corn makes it impossible for local farmers to sell their more varied and nutritious crops.  Agribusinesses’ establishing large commercial farms in Mexico compound the problem.  Varieties  developed for growth in high mountain regions and other specialized conditions are disappearing.

Apples are another example.  Andrea Germanos, of Common Dreams, cites John Torgrimson, of Seed Savers Exchange (an organization that saves and shares heirloom seeds) on the decrease in apple varieties:
    “Nowadays, you'll generally find only about 10 varieties of apples in markets, he says, and some of those are related to each other.  ... ‘At one time, we had 20,000 varieties of apples in the U.S.’  In 2000, we had about 4,000 varieties, but most of those were held in private orchards across the country; market forces are bringing only a handful of varieties to consumers, says Torgrimson.”    

Why do we need such variety?
One reason is that most older varieties are more nutritious than those recently bred for attractiveness and ability to withstand long trips to market, rather than food value.  

Another is the danger of a blight or infestation wiping out an entire crop or variety.  Single- variety crops will be devastated; cultivation of many kinds will raise the likelihood of most varieties being immune to the current invader.  Remember the Irish Potato Famine.

So, what can we do?  
Pay attention to what we are buying – local crops are now offered at many supermarkets, as well as farmers’ markets.  Farmers selling locally can offer more varieties, including those that cannot withstand weeks in a truck or train.

Experiment with different varieties.  When I moved to Westchester (and my gardening landlord), I had no idea so many types of – for instance – peppers there were!  I knew about Bell peppers and jalapeno peppers, and that was about it.  I was amazed at the colors and shapes of the peppers around our door: the most beautiful are tiny deep purple hearts, which eventually turn red.   Long dark green peppers, pale green ones, long and short, flame red and deep red, pale yellow – all amaze me!

If you plant, seek out traditional varieties, heirloom varieties, and share with gardener friends.

And of course, keep an eye on legislation that narrows the field for varieties and make your voices heard.

Read publications like the Carbon Rangers, for up-to-date information and a world-wide view of our environment and how changes and trends are affecting us and all our brothers and sisters.

Keep the harvest going, so that all may have the food they need, nutritious and plentiful.   Happy end of summer!