This link gives some of the benefits of the ancestral cultivars - which seem to be superior in nutrients. modern cultivars chosen for commercial reasons.
perhaps we shoould buy for nutrients not quantity !

http://www.hortweek.com/go/edibles/arti ... nutrients/

Be nice to have a link that doesn't require one to register.

Your wish is my command

http://www.unilever.com/mediacentre/pre ... tious.aspx

really Alan ?

I did google for one, nothing came up - should have entered unilever, didn't think of that! Thank you for finding it!

I'm quite sure many ancient cultivars are superior in all sorts of ways but I'm not sure how many of us grow commercial varieties in our gardens or allotments. By commercial I mean those bred specifically for yield and the qualities the supermarkets require. I grow 'heritage' toms, potatoes and plenty of open pollinated types of veg. I also have an Egremont Russett apple tree but i have to admit that although I like the taste I find the flesh too dry. It's also a pretty miserable cropper.

The research is welcome but I suspect it will be used solely for commercial purposes. The big boys might decide that nutrients are quite important but in the end they'll still want the yields and the keeping qualities.

It seems a bit wooly to me, to create a research project predicated upon the fact that if Egremont Russet apples contain particularly high levels of a particular nutrient and it is an old variety, therefore other old varieties must also be nutrient rich. I'd be interested to see the results, nevertheless.

I am also hoping the research benefits mankind, rather than into the profits of big conglomerates !

The Unilever press release is woolly in the extreme. First it talks of “pre-domesticated” varieties (shouldn't that be species?), presumably wild crab apples. Then it instances Egremont Russet, which is a variety/cultivar, and domesticated at that. And what are the “pre-domesticated” onions, bananas and mangoes (and tea!).

Methinks the majority of this research will be driven by "profits of big conglomerates"; that, after all is what Unilever is a major example of.

If you can produce something that can be claimed as a "wonder food", "ultra-nutritious" or some such label that we see so many of these days, there's big money to be made.

Hi NB,
U-N-I-L-E-V-E-R = C-O-N-G-L-O-M-E-R-A-T-E!
I simply cannot understand how you can fail to understand the implications behind the announcement that this is a Conglomerate Corporation providing the capital for the research. In return. they like Shylock, will want their pound of flesh!
Like Alan, I feel that the whole announcement is very mixed and he is very correct in stating that the word species is what should have been used as they are going back to the absolute basic plant of which there are hitherto no varieties. Egremont Russet, introduced in the 1870's, is about a thousand years late into the equation and should not have been mentioned.
Irrespective of who carries out the research and who pays for that research in the end mankind should benefit if more nutrition can be obtained from hybrids very similar to those we already have and grow.
My thoughts are that the research will involve genetic modification of one kind or another because whatever is done will involve the alteration of genes even to get the most humble of hybrids.
JB.

Hi Johnboy, I was quite aware of possible intent but thought best to let others voice their opinion first, my first thought was ah competition for Monsanto , your comment like shylock - true There is a petition at the moment going to the UN requesting mother earth/ nature has legal rights, and when you think about it that should protect our heritage of seeds, they would have nothing to patent or tamper with, if she had not produced the seeds in the first place, we are seeds too, where does that end!
I just put it out for information as i did not wish to be contentious. I know some here support GM though as you know I am not one of them, and I do favour mostly heritage varieties in my own garden
Thankyou for the link Peter. I found myself wondering what that American corn tasted like, some taste good and others get fed to cattle LOL

Allan I found a lovely old wild crab apple in a hedgerow locally it was laden with fruit, I took some windfall fruits down to our local nature reserve he thought it was an old variety and was going to try cultivating some for the reserve. They were just starting a bee reserve, to conserve the rarer species we have down here, we already have Rye coastal wetland reserves, see my link.

NB

My name is Alan. The one L is"me"! I've always resented the form Allan, let alone Alun or Alyn.

Excerpts from the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth

We are all part of Mother Earth, an indivisible, living community of
interrelated forms. All forms of exploitation, abuse and
contamination have caused great destruction to Mother Earth.
To guarantee human rights it is necessary to recognize and defend
the rights of Mother Earth...
Mother Earth has the following inherent rights:
… the right to life, to exist and be respected;
… the right to regenerate its bio-capacity and to continue its vital
cycles free from human disruptions;
…the right to water as a source of life, clean air and integral health;
…the right to be free from contamination and pollution;
…the right to not have its genetic structure modified or disrupted.
Obligations of human beings to Mother Earth:
… Every human being is responsible for respecting. protecting and
living in harmony with Mother Earth;
...where necessary, restore the integrity, of the vital ecological
cycles and balances of Mother Earth;
...promote economic systems that are in harmony with Mother
Earth and in accordance with the rights recognized in this
Declaration.

From http://www.rightsofmotherearth.com/wp-c ... mplate.pdf

Thank you for that Alan, sorry I apelt your name wrong.
I signed here, http://www.rightsofmotherearth.com/ they encourage us to write letters to our PM too, Everyone spells both my name and surname wrong too but I am more laid back about it, as a commumity nurse I got called anything from ducks, dearie,and mate, to matron I answered to them all, I am not my name !
As earth is our only chariot on the sea of existence then it will pay us to show earth respect.