The Atlas Obscura Podcast · Wednesday, September 23, 2026
Sephra Alexander, a renowned seed conservationist, highlights the critical loss of crop diversity, stating that approximately 75% of the world's crop diversity vanished between 1900 and 2000. She warns that relying on a limited number of crop varieties makes global food security dangerously vulnerable to disease and environmental changes.
“According to the FAO, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, roughly 75% of the world's crop diversity was lost between the year 1900 and 2000.”
“A monoculture is a really dangerous place to be for food security because if something happens that that exact strain can survive, then you have total crop failure.”