monocropping cultures into ruin the loss of food varieties and cultural diversity单一作物文化到破坏食物品种和文化多样性的丧失.pdfVIP

Sustainability 2012, 4, 2970-2997; doi:10.3390/su4112970 OPEN ACCESS sustainability ISSN 2071-1050 /journal/sustainability Article Monocropping Cultures into Ruin: The Loss of Food Varieties and Cultural Diversity Peter J. Jacques 1,*and Jessica Racine Jacques 2 1 University of Central Florida, Department of Political Science, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA 2 University of Central Florida, Department of Sociology, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA; E-Mail: racinealtif@ * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: Peter.Jacques@; Tel.: +1-407-823-6773; Fax: +1-407-823-0051. Received: 21 July 2012; in revised form: 30 September 2012 / Accepted: 29 October 2012 / Published: 7 November 2012 Abstract: The loss of genetic diversity of thousands of plants and crops has been well documented at least since the 1970s, and has been understood as a result of epistemological and political economic conditions of the Green Revolution. The political economic arrangement of the Green Revolution, alongside a post-war focus on economies of scale and export-oriented growth, replace high-yield single varieties of crops for a diverse array of varieties that may not have the same yield, but may be able to resist pests, disease, and changing climatic conditions. Also, the harvest does not flow in all directions equally: Whereas small holder subsistence farming uses a large variety of crops as a food source and small-scale trade, the industrial economi