Old but Gold – Why heritage varieties still matter
A Photo Brochure & Exhibition
21.09.2018
by Manuel Ebner and Julia Schneider
Supervisor: Dr. Ursula Münster
The History and development of agriculture is characterized by a constant change: from sedentarization to the cultivation of plants and domestication of animals to the industrial revolution and development of technology towards the green revolution and intensification of agriculture. Inseparably associated with this evolution is a shift in the relation of humans to natural resources, the perception of food and its production as well as the framework of food systems. Crops and cultivation practices were adapted to the current needs but not necessarily developed to the benefit of all parties. Particularly, crop varieties underwent constant breeding and genetic modification for increased productivity.
Nowadays, 30 breeds are used to provide 95% of world populations’ calorie requirement and 50% of global human food needs can be met by only three plants: Wheat, Maize and Rice. So we might wonder: Why do we as an increasing human world population even need variety, if we can feed ourselves with only a couple of different agricultural crops? And why do especially old/ heritage varieties matter?
We rummaged through books and visited farms and gardens to find the traces of old fruit, vegetable and farm animal varieties and to disclose the secret, what makes them so important for our society nowadays. The results and three old varieties with their special story behind are presented in our brochure.
Downloads
- Brochure (13 MByte)