Increasing homogeneity in global food supplies and the implications for food security

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1313490111
• Publication Date: 2014-03-04T02:26:27Z
• Authors: Colin K. Khoury; Anne D. Bjorkman; Hannes Dempewolf; Julian Ramirez-Vi...; Luigi Guarino; Andy Jarvis; Loren H. Rieseberg; Paul C. Struik
• Keywords: Crops, Agricultural; 0301 basic medicine; productivity; data analysis; world; plant genetic resources; cultivos; History, 21st Century; diversidad genética como recurso; diversity; Food Supply; plant genetic-resources; 03 medical and health sciences; Humans; farming systems; commodities; biodiversity; 2. Zero hunger; species diversity; genetic diversity as resource; food security; History, 20th Century; 15. Life on land; crops; Diet; food supply; nutrition; 13. Climate action; climate-change; Linear Models; análisis de datos; ecosystem services; policy

Significance This study provides evidence of change in the relative importance of different crop plants in national food supplies worldwide over the past 50 years. Within a global trend of increased overall quantities of food calories, protein, fat, and weight, and increased proportions of those quantities sourcing from energy-dense foods, national food supplies diversified in regard to contributing measured crop commodities. As a consequence, national food supplies globally have become increasingly similar in composition, based upon a suite of truly global crop plants. The growth in reliance worldwide on these crops heightens interdependence among countries in their food supplies, plant genetic resources, and nutritional priorities.