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<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>The meaning of the term \u201clandrace\u201d is hard to pin down but it is a term that anyone interested in plant genetic conservation should know. A landrace is a traditional crop variety, also known as a farmer, local or primitive variety.<\/p>\n
A working definition is:<\/p>\n
\u201cA landrace of a seed-propagated crop is a variable population, which is identifiable and usually has a local name. It lacks \u2018formal\u2019 crop improvement, is characterised by a specific adaptation to the environmental conditions of the area of cultivation (tolerant to the biotic and abiotic stresses of that area) and is closely associated with the uses, knowledge, habits, dialects, and celebrations of the people who developed and continue to grow it.\u201d [1]<\/sup><\/p>\n What does this definition mean in practice? Two generations ago in Ireland, there were more vegetable farmers and plant nurseries. At the time, it was standard practice for vegetable farmers to save their own seed every season. The reasons for this were economical and practical. They did not have to buy seed every season and they could select the plants that thrived best in their particular location, be it windy or sunny or acidic or alkaline.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> This on-farm breeding created plant varieties that were adapted to a particular area and a particular use. These are examples of landraces. Often these landraces in Ireland would have had \u201cCommon\u201d in the name, for example the Mayo Common Cabbage<\/a> or the Common Cabbage saved by Clare farmers.<\/p>\n Another feature of landraces is the high level of genetic diversity within<\/em> a landrace. This is because any on-farm breeding would have typically been carried out through open-pollination aka leaving some of the pollination up to chance. Growing a landrace as a home gardener can be an interesting experience as there can be more variation in terms of leaf size, flowering time, and other physical characteristics than we are used to when growing modern crop varieties.<\/p>\n This in-variety diversity is important to the farmer because it reduces the likelihood of total crop failure;<\/p>\n \u201c…the mix of landrace diversity has allowed \u2026 farmers to service a diversity of needs and purposes and to obtain a harvest whether the year is dry or wet, or whether there is a pest or disease attack, as some genotypes will be affected each year but not all of them\u201d (Vetalainen et al. 2009, pp. 2).<\/p>\n In-variety diversity is also important to the seed breeder because they need a wide pool of genes to pull from to counter new challenges such as diseases, pests or adverse weather conditions.<\/p>\n Vetalainen et al. (2009) point out the paradox between conservation and development: most breeders\u2019 goal is to create higher yielding varieties more adapted to the needs of majority agricultural supply systems. Having access to a wide range of genetics as can be found in traditional plant varieties supports this. And yet, successful breeding and adoption of modern varieties can lead to the loss of genetic diversity within crops in the field, in other words, the very traditional plant varieties that the breeder depends upon. Concern about this erosion of on-farm crop diversity has been growing since the 1980s and is part of what has brought us all together reading this newsletter.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> So how many landraces are left in Ireland?[2]<\/sup><\/p>\n To be frank, we don\u2019t have exact numbers. Many of the \u201ccommon\u201d varieties do not exist anymore because farmers started to buy seed every year from the 1990s onwards. Ireland has a database of wild crop cultivars (the wild plants from which modern-day crops have been bred) but it does not yet have a landrace database or even a landrace strategy. Irish Seed Savers has been dynamically conserving landraces since the 1990s while initiatives such as Calli Collective, run by artist Niamh Gibbons, connect specific landraces with specific places, such as the Mayo Common Cabbage in Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo.<\/p>\n There is also what is called a secondary landrace, which is a crop developed through formal breeding but which has since been grown out multiple times[3]<\/sup>. Many of Ireland\u2019s 50+ present-day mixed horticultural farmers save seed and have been developing their own landraces adapted to their specific locations.<\/p>\n At the European level, landraces are registered as \u2018conservation varieties\u2019 in the European Catalogue of Varieties[4]<\/sup> and projects like Farmer Pride (2017-2021) are working towards active networks of landrace use by farmers.<\/p>\n What can be done? <\/strong><\/p>\n By Molly Garvey<\/p>\n Interim Seed Bank Co-ordinator<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> [1]<\/sup><\/a> Vetalainen, M., Negri, V. and N. Maxted (Eds). 2009. European landraces: on-farm conservation, management and use. Biodiversity Technical Bulletin No. 15. Biodiversity International, Rome, Italy.<\/p>\n [2]<\/sup><\/a> Ramirez-Villegas, J., Khoury, C.K., Achicanoy, H.A. et al.<\/em> State of ex situ conservation of landrace groups of 25 major crops. Nat. Plants<\/em> 8<\/strong>, 491\u2013499 (2022). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41477-022-01144-8<\/p>\n\n
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