"The last hope of life on earth: Svalbard. Most of humanity depends on just 12 plant species, down from over 7,000 historically. Fortunately, seeds can be viable for up to thousands of years, and seed banks have already preserved many species, including the entire plant population of Antarctica. But with seed banks being destroyed as the result of wars and accident, Norway has has begun work on an underground facility, protected by polar bears, in the Arctic permafrost that is designed to hold millions of seeds, as "final safety net" for humanity."
http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/52401
Historically, humans utilized more than 7,000 plant species to meet their basic food needs, Esquinas says. Today, due to the limitations of modern large-scale, mechanized farming, only 150 plant species are under cultivation, and the majority of humans live on only 12 plant species, according to research by the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Most types of food, for example the tomato, consist of several different species, and each species may contain dozens, if not hundreds, of varieties. In the last century, dozens of varieties of corn, wheat and potato have disappeared.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/17/news/food.php?news_id=75
Just thought this was interesting. It's hard to believe we live using so few plant species. It seems there are so many in the world that we could be utilizing.
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Yeah I looked at the selection at Loews te other day and there are just not that many varities of vegetables there. I still have to go to Mejiers and walmart and the green house down the street, but several things are missing from loews shelf probibly because they don't sell well. Like parsnips and lima beans. They only had one varity of acorn squash. I know this year I am going to garden my heart out and we are goin to freeze and can vegetables. I'm putting strawberries in the front yard.
~Maybee Sinclair~
GO ME----Plant A TREE !!!!!
In case you were curious, they finished building the seed vault. Really an incredible building... http://www.progressiveu.org/114649-doomsday-seed-vault