THEY say variety is the spice of life – and now we have a global treaty designed to ensure it remains so. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture will become law on 29 June, following ratification by 12 countries and the European Community on 31 March.
The treaty is designed to prevent food shortages caused by the failure of major crop varieties. The world relies on just a few varieties of wheat, rice, maize and potato for 60 per cent of its calories. But so few varieties are grown, with such limited genetic variability, that our…
