The Potato Park in Cusco is a 90 sq km (35 sq mile) expanse ranging from 3,400 to 4,900 metres (16,000 feet) above sea level. It has “maintained one of the highest diversities of native potatoes in the world, in a constant process of evolution,” says Alejandro Argumedo, the founder of Asociación Andes, an NGO which supports the park.
[…] “These crops have always adapted,” says Marie Haga, the executive director of the Crop Trust. […]“That’s why we need the diversity, because the diversity is what we use when we breed new plants which can tolerate new climates,” she adds.
[…] The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 75% of crop diversity was lost between 1900 and 2000 and that as much as 22% of the wild relatives of food crops will disappear by 2055 because of the changing climate.
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