Agroecology and in situ conservation of native crop diversity in the third world

Modern agriculture is pushing traditional farmers to plant areas with monocultures of genetically uniform plants. This is risky because the plants are vulnerable to yield-limiting factors. Situ conservation methods have many benefits; although they do not provide a panacea for conserving natural sources of crop genetic resources. Researchers in certain countries have helped farmers return to traditional chinampas and multilayered, specied-rich gardens. In Bolivia, project AGRUCO is helping peasants recover their production autonomy.