Susannah Chapman and Paul Heald have another interesting study on crop diversity, this time focusing on apples. The paper, “Apple Diversity Report Card for the Twentieth Century: Patents and Other Sources of Innovation in the Market for Apples,” seems to show an increase in apple varietal diversity during the 20th century. Here’s the abstract:
Contrary to popular belief, the twentieth century was a good one for commercial apple varietal diversity. As measured by availability in commercial nursery catalogs, significant gains were made in both absolute number of apple varieties and the available number of pre-1900 historic varieties. In 1905, an estimated 420 different apple varieties were commercially available, approximately 390 of which dated from the 19th century or earlier. By 2000, 1469 different apple varieties were offered in commercial catalogs, at least 435 of which were pre-1900 century varieties. And, if one counts apple varieties maintained in the USDA orchards as commercially available (one can obtain scions by making a simple on-line request), hundreds more apples, including many historic varieties, can be added to the count. Most importantly, the data collected reveals the sources of diversity gains in the twentieth century, including an analysis of the percentage of varieties resulting from patented innovation, non-patented local innovation, preservation of old varieties, and importation. Although patented apples constitute a relatively small percentage of available varieties, they exhibit stunningly high commercialization rates and surprisingly low obsolescence rates. A unique list of all patented apples, their varietal names, and present availability is included in an appendix.
I blogged on one of their earlier studies here.
arthur says:
And varieties have increased even more now that they’re introducing a tablet!
January 27, 2010, 3:14 pmBruce Hayden says:
Horray for patents – though I must admit to some bias here (as that is how I make my living).
January 27, 2010, 3:58 pmDavid Chesler says:
Does this mean that approximately 30 varieties were new, from the 5 years immediately before that count was made?
January 27, 2010, 5:33 pmcorneille1640 says:
Grrrrr, and I just got in an argument with someone who insisted that the 20th century was actually mediocre for commercial apple varietal diversity :)
January 27, 2010, 5:35 pmLarryA says:
“Bu-bu-bu-but everyone knows genetic modification has reduced diversity.”
Another Chicken Little bites the dust.
January 27, 2010, 6:04 pmDevan says:
Even though patents may have increased the number of varietals available, has this in any way increased the diversity of apple orchards?
January 27, 2010, 7:15 pmBy analogy, if we said, “More minority students are taking the LSAT each year,” does this mean that the big law firms are becoming more diverse?
I can tell you about the orchards: acres and acres of the same variety, depending on poisons to keep everything else from growing and on chemical fertilizers to produce an increasingly unappetizing crop. For the most part, these are patented apples, bred and engineered for resistance to pests and diseases caused by the monoculture, and for size and cosmetic perfection. In flavor and nutritional value, though, they don’t even come close to my in-laws’ suburban apples, of the variey “mutt”.
Curt Fischer says:
Does anyone have any information on what this study has to do with crop diversity on the ground? Who’s to say that the reported data doesn’t reflect an increasing propensity to list one’s apple varietals’ seeds in a commercial catalog?
January 27, 2010, 7:37 pmTatil says:
Really? How many varieties are available to YOU at the three or five supermarkets nearest you? Why don’t you look for a statistics that compare the varieties available weighted by areas under cultivation. Still, it is nice that more varieties are kept around just in case some disease wipes out some of the now popular ones.
Anyways, it is not the GM causing this, it is the market. The race to the cheapest is forcing producers to pick many fruits before they are ripe and pick varieties that are less juicy so that they don’t spoil before it goes across the country. Of course, this also gives many people access to tomatoes who otherwise would not be able to buy any due to cost or distance, so it is not totally bad.
January 27, 2010, 11:59 pmneurodoc says:
My apple complaint: A couple of years ago, we encountered and enjoyed Honey Crisps for the first time. They were a different and pleasurable experience, with the crispness that I like so much and an appreciable taste of honey. We enjoyed them for a season. Now, it is easier to find this variety in the stores here, usually at twice price of other varieties, but the honey taste is completely gone. What happened?
January 28, 2010, 12:25 amTatil says:
Either the yields were too low per acre or the varieties with honey taste spoiled easily.
January 28, 2010, 12:32 amDQ says:
“As measured by availability in commercial nursery catalogs, significant gains were made in both absolute number of apple varieties and the available number of pre-1900 historic varieties.”
This presupposes that people were actually buying similar levels of all seed types, rather than simply large quantities of a few seed types. As some commentators have already pointed out, the apple seeds may be in a catalog not because of market demand, but rather because or patent rights and cheap printing…
January 28, 2010, 1:16 amflyovertard says:
All I know is growing up we had maybe 4 different varieties available throughout the year – rarely at the same time.
Now I can go to walmart and select maybe a dozen or more varieties throughout the year.
Walmart’s the best!!
January 28, 2010, 10:05 amChrisTS says:
I wonder how deep the ‘diversity’ of newly patented varieties goes. A primary concern about diversity in food sources is genetic breadth – and, also, proven resistance.
I do not know a great deal about apples, so I will offer what I hope is an analogy. Many ‘ornamental’ gardeners have become infatuated with Heuchera. A couple of farms have been producing an astonishing variety of new strains. The coolest new strains always turn up in the annual catalogues, with some of the tried-and-true favorites. Indeed, many large catalogue suppliers now have entire sections devoted to Heuchera.
But, most of these strains are derived from one (or, at best two) parent strains. Further, although they may look lovely as depicted in the catalogues, they are not stable, or are more susceptible to diseases than their parents, and so on.
In other words: the number of available varieties on the market does not ensure either real diversity or deep diversity. That’s ok when one is simply collecting the newest Heuchera (or Hosta, or Abelia, tea rose, etc.) It is not so okay when we are considering food crops.
January 29, 2010, 10:04 pm