L. Newfoundland lamb, R.Cotswold lamb Photo: Joywind Farm
Canada's Farm and Garden Biodiversity in Peril
Biodiversity is not only found in the variety of life in the wild but also in our barnyards, fields and gardens and here, too, is seriously threatened. Gone forever are many once-common food varieties, including "Red Brandywine" and "Bush Whopper" tomatoes and "Desiree" and "Blue Shetlands" potatoes. In the past three years 950 varieties of vegetables have become extinct world-wide and 74 percent of the commercial varieties of vegetables left to us - almost 4,000 varieties - are endangered.
In Canada we have over 220 breeds of cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and horses. But now, close to one-third of Canada's domestic animal breeds are rare or in serious danger of becoming extinct. These include breeds that used to be common sights on farms across Canada: "Berkshire" and "Gloucestor Old Spot" pigs, "Kerry" and "line Back" cattle, and "Cotswold" and "Newfoundland" sheep.
Our heritage farm animals and plants are the result of over 10,000 years of selective breeding which resulted in an increasingly greater variety of seeds and breeds. Only in the last few decades, with the onslaught of modern "agri- business" with its sterile hybrid varieties and its pressure to produce uniform food, have we seen a drastic shrinking of the domestic animal and plant gene pool. This coincides with a shrinking in the number of major corporations which control the genetic material, copyright the seeds (geared to fit "designer" pesticides), and grow, process and sell our food. Now 98 percent of the cows in on Canadian dairy farms are Holsteins —selectected because of their high milk production—and 75 percent of those cattle are bred to only 12 elite bulls through artificial insemination. Because of consumer demand for more white breast meat, our huge breasted "Christmas" turkey can no longer mate naturally. Fertility in the female has also declined, meaning there are fewer eggs to reproduce the next generation.
As we erode our domestic breeds' gene pool, we ignore warning signs about the dangers of mono-culture (single variety) farming: the Irish potato famine of the 1840s, the American corn blight of 1970, and the midge infestation of our prairie wheat crops in the 1980s. Growing only a few varietals leaves us vulnerable. The long-term health and resilience of our agriculture industry is in maintaining biodiversity. This means encouraging farmers to include some rare breeds and heritage crops on their farms and ensuring that these breeds and seeds are available for them and the discerning public who want a diversity of food tastes.
