Biodiversity is the key to a healthy planet. But how can we, as consumers, support biodiversity? Well, let’s consider America’s iconic fruit of choice: the apple.
Apples that are grown commercially are inherently at a disadvantage in the fight for biodiversity because they are grown from grafts. What that means is that the growing stem of a successful plant is tied onto the root of a new tree so that the new tree abandons its own genetic wiring and simply becomes the pedestal for growing the successful plant. What is created is basically a clone of the original tree. This assures that every apple that we know as “Red Delicious” (for example) has all of the traits that we would expect of a “Red Delicious” apple. However, this also means that every Red Delicious apple that you have ever eaten have been genetically identical to every other as they all have been clones of that original Red Delicious of so long ago.
While grafting apples is great for assuring the quality of the product at the market, it is horrible for biodiversity! If a virus or a fungus or some other apple-specific disease strikes our orchards, our apples would have no chance of weathering the storm. Because they are genetic clones, every tree would be affected in exactly the same way with no chance of some strange genetic mutation allowing some trees to tolerate the disease where others could not. As consumers, there is nothing we can do to change that, but we can up the biodiversity game in another way.
An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but more importantly, a different TYPE of apple a day will keep apples here to stay.
Large commercial apple producers tend to grow only a very few varieties. With only 4-5 types of apples being grown, the chance of a single disease being able to wipe out our entire apple crop is much greater. We can’t change the fact that each type of apple is a clone of itself, but we can change how many types there are. By supporting lesser-known varieties and trying new flavors when they appear, we promote the biodiversification of apples in general.
Have a favorite apple variety? Buy a whole bag every week and eat them to your heart’s content, BUT also buy one or two in a flavor you haven’t tried. Maybe you’ll find a delicious new type that will replace your tried and true while, in the meantime, encouraging apple farmers to invest in new flavors and varieties. An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but more importantly, a different type of apple a day will keep apples here to stay. Now, that’s a sweet deal for us all!