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PLANT DOMESTICATION

First come, first served for ancient crops

Nature Plants volume 7, pages 542–543 (2021)Cite this article

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Analysis reveals that the economic importance of crops is most influenced by their antiquity of domestication.

The evolution of plant domestication is a topic replete with paradoxes when viewed through the lens of progress. Agriculture is the pillar that supported the rise of civilization, and yet it is also associated with initial malnutrition, disease and labour traps1,2,3 that obfuscate the mechanisms and motivations behind the process. In this issue of Nature Plants, Milla and Osborne add to this complex picture by attempting to answer why humans have come to rely on just twelve plant species for the bulk of their plant-based needs when thousands of species have been domesticated4.

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Fig. 1: The age of crop origins and their relative importance.

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  1. School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    Robin Allaby

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  1. Robin Allaby
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Correspondence to Robin Allaby.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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Allaby, R. First come, first served for ancient crops. Nat. Plants 7, 542–543 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-021-00926-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-021-00926-w

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