{"id":136434,"date":"2025-12-30T13:47:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T13:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/?p=136434"},"modified":"2025-12-30T13:47:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T13:47:29","slug":"the-growing-population","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themintmagazine.com\/the-growing-population\/","title":{"rendered":"The growing population"},"content":{"rendered":"

Planting fields with a variety of strains of each plant makes for a resilient crop in the face of global warming. But global markets create other priorities? Nick Easen<\/strong> writes.<\/p>\n

Few people have heard of population crops, yet fields full of a diversity of plants \u2013 rather than the monocultures we currently grow \u2013 could be a silver bullet in the fight to make farming more resilient and adaptable to climate change. So why aren\u2019t we planting more of them?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most of the food farmed in the UK comes from incredibly uniform crops, where every plant is genetically similar and regimented. Consistency is good for farmers and the supply chain \u2013 you know what you\u2019re getting when a field ripens and is then mechanically harvested all at the same time. Supply chains insist on standardisation. In fact seed uniformity is a legal requirement in the UK.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

with increasing climate extremes it makes more sense to grow crops with a higher degree of genetic diversity<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But with increasing climate extremes it makes more sense to grow crops with a higher degree of genetic diversity. With many different varieties in a field, there are more traits available to tackle, say, a drought, floods, soil fluctuations, or new diseases. If one plant fails another thrives \u2013 this mimics nature\u2019s natural variability and resilience. It\u2019s the population that adapts and then delivers.<\/p>\n

Population crops already exist for wheat, oats, maize, barley, and rye; think heirloom tomatoes that are also celebrated for their diversity. Quinoa is effectively a population crop. One\u00a0UK seed network<\/a>\u00a0has called them: \u201cone of the most promising developments within organic farming\u00a0this century.\u201d<\/p>\n

Agroecological growers are particularly interested in population crops because they are more likely to thrive in fields that aren\u2019t drenched uniformly with agrochemicals. A higher degree of variability is valued when crops are grown on soils with differing nutrient levels. Population crops are also more resilient to disease or weeds in the absence of blanket pesticide or herbicides treatments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are an exciting alternative to traditional crop development and have so much potential. Diverse populations can buffer any environmental variability naturally, so therefore the crop relies less on chemical inputs for buffering,\u201d explains Dr. Charlotte Bickler, Policy Manager at the\u00a0Organic Research Centre<\/a>, who also works with the\u00a0UK Grain Lab<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She adds: \u201cThese types of crops may also have better nutrient scavenging ability from soils because they have a diversity of root traits. This raises questions around better nutrient content as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Taking back sovereignty<\/h4>\n

The good news is that seed from population crops can be retained and planted year after year. There is also potential for each seed microbiome to adapt and evolve to local conditions and environmental variability on the farm over time \u2013 but there\u2019s little evidence yet to show this in the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It also means farmers aren\u2019t constrained by the intellectual property rights that now dominate the seed industry in the UK. \u201cGlobalised seed and feed businesses control pretty much all seed production now. These same big, centralised businesses dominate all the agrochemicals as well. These two things are not unrelated and that really limits the choice that farmers have about what they\u2019re going to plant, and consequently this reduces the choices to do with what we eat,\u201d states Josiah Meldrum, co-founder of Hodmedod\u2019s Wholefoods.<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s current poster child for population crops is YQ Wheat, which you can now buy as flour from\u00a0Hodmedod\u2019s Wholefoods<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Cotswold Flour<\/a>\u00a0for example. It has around 180 different lines or types of wheat. The crop has good quality and yield stability due to its diversity, as well as the capacity to cope with a changing environment. It is also good at competing with weeds.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

YQ Wheat is a drop in the ocean compared to the handful of wheat cultivars and monocultures that are planted across the UK every year<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was the first population crop to undergo commercial trials for breadmaking and was pioneered by the late Professor Martin Wolfe from\u00a0Wakelyns Agroforestry<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Organic Research Centre<\/a>. But YQ Wheat is a drop in the ocean compared to the handful of wheat cultivars and monocultures that are planted across the UK every year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, why aren\u2019t we planting more? Questions over yields still resonate. Also the entire seed certification process in the UK is based on single varieties, where genetic uniformity is the objective. This is a legacy system developed after World War II to promote higher levels of production, protect food supplies, as well as promote unified standards and discourage unscrupulous seed sellers. It is a system that persists today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had this particular vision for decades that uniform, high input, high output farming is the way to do things. Now there\u2019s laws in place to protect that system, which then limits the ability for population crops to emerge,\u201d details Dr Bickler.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0gene-editing money machine<\/h4>\n

At the moment, there\u2019s only a temporary piece of legislation in place allowing the trade of genetically diverse seeds. In 2030 this ends and those looking to promote population crops may have to cease growing and trading unless there\u2019s a change in the law by policymakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t help that all the attention today is focused on gene-edited or precision-bred crops, which some see as GM or genetic modification by the back door. Population crops used to get government funding, but that\u2019s dried up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s now huge investment going into precision breeding. No wonder it looks as though its doing well, while we\u2019ve been scraping around for decades to find funding. Big seed companies have a money making machine that\u2019s now focused on gene-edited crops. It means there will be even greater control of intellectual property rights and patents on future seeds,\u201d points out Dr Bickler from the Organic Research Centre.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

She adds: \u201cWith momentum from the UK government and big business to develop gene-editing, it means there\u2019s no space for population crop development. The big globalised seed companies say gene-editing is a key solution to climate change and low-input farming. This is complete rubbish because we\u2019re dealing with complex traits and unpredictable environments that evolve over time. We have to give nature a chance and the ability to use the tools that it already has, working with populations crops to enhance their robustness.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Across the UK there\u2019s been very limited funding for the breeding of any organic crops.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Across the UK there\u2019s been very limited funding for the breeding of any organic crops. Much more investment is needed. In Europe there is the\u00a0LiveSeeding<\/a>\u00a0project and in the UK there is the\u00a0Local Alternative Seed Networks<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Seed Sovereignty Programme<\/a>. Those active in developing population crops are keen to develop a system that has integrity and promotes quality, just not uniformity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t necessarily cracked how that would work with these more diverse crops. There are technical challenges around how we would integrate population crops into our current system \u2013 or do we need a completely new system?\u201d questions Dr Bickler.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Time for a makeover<\/h4>\n

Population crops certainly need better marketing, advertising, and promotion, as well, in order to spur on demand, particularly for the final produce available to the consumer. Meldrum from Hodmedod\u2019s believes it involves a mind shift, introducing people and the food industry to the benefits of variability, away from the uniformity that the supermarkets and big food and seed brands sell.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSmall bakeries are now forming particular relationships with farmers that are growing crops such as YQ Wheat. This uniqueness gives the baker something really specific to promote to their customers, but it also gives the farmer a really consistent higher value,\u201d explains Meldrum.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate tipping points have also arrived and I think being able to communicate that through more resilient crops and something that tastes delicious, which you can have in your own kitchen and eat, is a powerful narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the moment there are more opportunities in cereal crops, since variability in legumes are likely to affect mechanical harvesting. It means that population crops in vegetables and horticulture are more suited to handpicked, small-scale market gardens.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is certainly an opportunity to bring at least a little more diversity through planting more mixtures in fields. Selecting four or five varieties that offer a broader spectrum of resilience, yet they still mature at roughly the same time is a good thing. Population crops offer some great answers to some key challenges and that\u2019s an incredibly hopeful thing,\u201d concludes Meldrum.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This was originally published by Wicked Leeks here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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