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RSS FeedMatters of Scale - Monoculture: The Biological and Social Impacts
Varieties of asparagus grown in the United States in 1903 | 46 |
Number of turn-of-the-century varieties surviving by the 1980s, after the advent of large-scale monoculture led to a gradual suppression of genetic diversity* | 1 |
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Varieties of sweet corn grown in the United States in 1903 | 307 |
Turn-of-the-century varieties grown by the 1980s* | 12 |
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Number of jobs provided by 100 hectares of diversified agriculture in Brazil | 1800 |
Number provided by an equal amount of land at the Bahia Sul Celulos monoculture tree plantation in the same region of the country | 2 |
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Quantity of farmed oceanic fish and shrimp raised in 1996 by using ground-up ocean fish as feed | 1 million tons |
Quantity of wild ocean fish that had to be ground up to provide the feed | 5 million tons |
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Amount of fish caught per person, worldwide, and sold for human consumption in 1996 | 16 kilograms |
Amount of sea urchins, sponges, and other marine life that was hauled up with the fish and discarded, per person (approximate) | 200 kilograms |
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Amount spent to produce the food consumed in the United States in 1996 (farm cost) | $126 billion |
Amount spent on marketing it | $421 billion |
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Sources: Asparagus and corn: Cary Flowler and Pat Mooney, Shattering: Food, Politics, and the Loss of Genetic Diversity (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1990); jobs in monoculture: "Paper Forests" (pp. 20-28, this issue); fish feed and fish waste: "Blue Revolution" (pp. 10-19, this issue); food costs: USDA.
