september 2008 ? issue twelve always more online @ eatdrinkmag.net 9 Today we depend on a small number of crop species for human nutrition; less than 30 plant species provide 95% of the world's sustenance. In the past century, 300,000 plant species have become extinct. Since the beginning of the 20th century, North America has lost 93% of its agricultural products. Europe has lost almost 85%. An important benefit of local food systems is the encouragement of multiple cropping and the growing of a variety of species and cultivars simultaneously, as opposed to the prevalent commercial practice of large scale single crop plantings. Multiple cropping is the practice of growing two or more crops simultaneously in the same space during the same growing season. For example, a farmer may grow tomatoes, onions and marigolds in the same field. The marigolds repel some pests, reducing or eliminating the farmer's reliance on com- mercial pesticides. There is now an interest in reviving and cataloguing the forgotten flavours of heirloom varieties. Heirloom is a term now commonly used to describe a cultivar that has been handed down from one generation to another. Cultivar refers to a plant variety with particular characteristics that has been created or intentionally selected and maintained through cultivation, and when propagated retains its unique attributes. This year London gardeners bought 3,000 organic heirloom tomato plants from The City Farming Project. These plants were started from seed in a donated greenhouse. Farming on three acres of land that people initially didn't think had any intrinsic value, and in several backyards, the project cultivated 42 varieties of heirloom tomatoes and a wide variety of other vegetables. These almost

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