DIVERSITY IN CROPS
(Posted 2010-12-08 09:11:22 by ArchPaladin)

I came across this particular article [
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/12/diseases-thrive-where-biodiversity-is-low.ars
] [arstechnica.com] yesterday, and kept it around to today to comment on
it.

The article basically states something that could be worked out with common
sense, but might not be terribly obvious to someone who doesn't work the
land or study populations.  It states that in an area of increased
homogenization, there is a greater risk of disease transmission, and less
overall hardiness.

They comment very briefly about this knowledge being a factor in diseases
among food crops, but I don't quite think they do it justice.  This piece
of knowledge is a great argument for biodiversity in farmlands and having
an aversion to genetically modified foodstuffs.  Currently, our society
puts a large number of eggs in very few baskets (so to speak), and I think
this is too much risk to take.  I wonder if we might cut down on the need
for pesticides or other pest-control systems by simply deciding to grow
more and varied types of foods.

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