The 'Relatives' of Our Food Crops Are Also Important!

More than 200 crops, used throughout the world, originated in Central and South America. Wild relatives of these plants have recently been studied in Mexico; Guatemala; El Salvador and Honduras. The study has resulted in many being placed on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s 'red list' (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/07/avocado-and-vanilla-among-hundreds-of-crop-wild-relatives-facing-extinction-study-aoe). Plants on the IUCN 'red list' are seriously threatened by extinction. The endangered plants include relatives of the avocado; the potato and vanilla. The vanilla (from the pod of an orchid) relative, is the most seriously threatened species. As one might predict, agriculture and the use of pesticides are the biggest threats to survival. One might think that 'mere relatives' of our basic crops are unimportant. There are, however, serious risks to our relying on monocultures of a few species. Sometimes, using the genetic diversity in the relatives can help us deal with a problem such as a plant disease (e.g. the banana). The relatives may also turn out to have properties that we haven't yet explored. Once they are gone, they are gone!