Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Contemporary crop breeding is undertaken mainly in monocultures since the vast amount of agricultural land today is planted in that fashion.Contrarily, a very large number of small and traditional farmers utilize techniques in which different crops are grown in association, intercropping (also known as polycultures).Using standard ecological and evolutionary theory, we note that exclusive use of the monoculture platform in plant breeding leads to an inherent sub-optimality of overall environmental utilization of a cropping system.We come to this conclusion based on the basic ecological theory of competition and the evolution of traits that result in reduced competition from other species.
Authors: John Vandermeer, Ivette Perfecto
Institution: University of Michigan
Language: English
Subfield: Agronomy and Crop Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDGs: Zero hunger, Life on land
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4408209054