As diets become increasingly uniform, the range of vegetables people eat is narrowing. In India, traditional crops including the clove bean and a local long white aubergine have largely vanished from commercial markets dominated by hybrids. Prabhakar Rao, founder of Bengaluru-based Hariyalee Seeds, conserves hundreds of heirloom seed varieties to prevent their disappearance.
Research published in PNAS in July assembled a global dataset of 1,482 vegetable species, although the researchers emphasise that the actual diversity is substantially greater. Approximately 24% of the wild relatives of 79 major vegetable species face extinction. Lead author Maarten van Zonneveld, who heads the International Potato Center’s gene bank in Lima, argues that conservation must ultimately enable these vegetables to be used, not merely preserved.
Rapid changes in land use, increasingly uniform markets and shifting agricultural priorities are eroding diversity. Chef and food researcher Elizabeth Yorke also highlights the influence of appearance: consumers associate certain colours and shapes with quality, allowing one variety to represent an entire vegetable category.
These losses undermine efforts to develop nutritious food systems that can withstand climate change. Meanwhile, Indian consumers eat less fruit and vegetables than recommended under food security standards associated with the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Bank.
Conservation initiatives combine preservation with practical use. In Meghalaya, a local organisation has incorporated underused wild and regional vegetables into meal programmes at 26 schools. Internationally, the WorldVeg Genebank maintains more than 65,000 genetic samples, while the Crop Trust identifies crops with potential for climate adaptation. The trust also advocates supporting smallholder growers and strengthening supply chains for non-standardised crops.
