Plants and People Notes
Chapter 15
Feeding a Hungry World

The major challenge in agriculture today is producing enough food to feed the world’s population.
Approximately 15% of the world’s population receives insufficient food to meet daily nutritional requirements. The major challenge in agriculture is producing enough food to feed the world’s population. Dramatic improvements in crop yield have been achieved through breeding of high-yielding and disease resistant varieties.

Traditional breeding programs and biotechnology are being used to develop high-yielding and disease-resistant cultivators.
Germplasm, the genetic information encoded in plants, is a valuable asset to plant breeders and must be preserved.

The loss of genetic diversity in crop plants and their wild ancestors because of monocultural practices is a serious concern to plant breeders. The cultivation of just one or two high yielding varieties for most major crops has resulted in the loss of thousands of traditional varieties, and with them their genetic heritage. Monoculture is, in itself an unstable system in that a single pest or disease can wipe out the crop of an entire region of essentially genetically identical and similarly susceptible individuals.

Although there are over 50,000 species of edible plants, only three domesticated crops provide over 50% of the kilocalories from plants in the human diet. The search for locally used crops that have the potential to be developed for expansion on the world market is ongoing. Some alternative crops that might play a bigger role in feeding a hungry world are quinoa, amaranth, tarwi, tamarillo, naranjilla, and oca.

Mike Jebens
Plants and People notes
Chapter 16 Notes
Stimulating Beverages

Caffeine and Caffeinelike alkaloids have a stimulating effect on the central nervous system.
Coffea Arabica, Thea sinensis, and Theobroma