New Crops and Biodiversity
Very small proportion of plant species have been the food source on a large scales. Relying on too few species of crops and animals is a threat to the survival of Human. It is illustrated by the Great Irish Potato Famine. Potatoes were introduced into Ireland from the New World in about 1600 and it became the major food source of most of the Irish people eventually. The wind-borne Potato blight fungus spread throughout the country In 1845-1847. and caused almost complete failure of the potato crop. It is estimated that 1 million people died of starvation, cholera and typhoid.
New crops are being found in the rest of plant species to widen the diversity of food source, which avoid to rely on few species too much.
Read more about this topic: Biodiversity And Food
Famous quotes containing the word crops:
“Paper is cheap, and authors need not now erase one book before they write another. Instead of cultivating the earth for wheat and potatoes, they cultivate literature, and fill a place in the Republic of Letters. Or they would fain write for fame merely, as others actually raise crops of grain to be distilled into brandy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)