Understanding Landraces: Importance, Legislation, and Future Prospects in Agriculture

What is a landrace?

Landraces are widely known as traditional or local varieties. Looking for the definition of landrace, we come across different terms. Cambridge dictionary refers to an animal or a crop which have developed over time to fit better in a particular area. According to Oxford reference, a landrace is a cultivar or breed that has not been affected by modern breeding practices but has been improved through time by physical selection (1). According to Zeven (2), it was not until 1908 that Von Rümker mentioned that local varieties of cereals were originally cultivated in a specific geographical area and named after it. Much later, Harlan (3) described landraces as a mixture of genotypes with improved adaptability to the environment in which they were developed. Nowadays, is a generally accepted statement that landraces are “genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous, adapted to the environmental conditions of their cultivation areas, suited to the production systems and local culinary preferences and are generally associated with traditional farming systems” as referred by FAO (4).   

Landrace legislation

Although the term landrace may refer both to plants and animals, plant landraces have dominated the scientific research field. Deficient and uneven legislation worldwide in landrace characterization creates problems in their identification and registration. Regarding plant landraces, according to the European Union, two Directives, 2008/62/EC and 2009/145/EC, referring to seeds and vegetable species, respectively, are promoting landrace registration into the Common Catalogues of Varieties.

Why are landraces important?

Suitable for low-input agriculture

Plant land races are developed mainly in environments with low nutrient availability. They are a source of diversity for seed selections in low-input organic farming systems and could promote the sustainability of semi-arid agroecosystems (5). Local varieties are better adapted to ecological production with low inputs and organic farming systems than modern crops. The most positive feature of modern crops is their high yield compared to landraces, which is negated under low fertility conditions (6).

Broad resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses

Stressful conditions, such as very low or very high temperatures, winds, and drought, do not favor the development of modern varieties. One basic characteristic of landraces’ growing conditions is that they are well adapted to the local environment. Moreover, there is evidence that they not only have high tolerance, but also can give crops with high nutritional and yield values in non-fertile soils (7).    

Wider genetic variability to protect biodiversity

Genetic erosion due to the displacement of local varieties by other commercial varieties is one of the main problems of current breeding programs. It is possible that landraces are the most valuable source of genetic diversity, and therefore they should be preserved and form the basis for further development. Utilization and recording of landrace alleles are at an early stage (7). Their genetic diversity and their adaptation to different and unfavorable conditions highlight the potential of using landraces in modern breeding programs.    

Connection with tradition and promotion of rural areas

Production of landraces is directly linked to tradition as they have a local character and a distinct identity. Supporting their development could promote the local economy of rural and remote areas. The farmers stay in their homeland, and the money they spend cultivating is reinvested in businesses and services in their community. Moreover, the consumers who eat local -produce local consume local- invest close to home, promoting local employment and economy. 

The future of landraces

The history of landraces begins in very early times, times which we cannot date with certainty. Over time, the evolution of the species leads to some species’ extinction, and modern humans are responsible for their perpetuation. Their future is uncertain. Most of them have been replaced by modern varieties. In recent decades, there has been a renewed interest in landraces, both at the research and cultivation level (8). However, there is a need to motivate farmers to promote their cultivation. Landraces will be able to emerge and be perpetuated only if there is a concerted effort by private and state entities.

References

1. Park C., 2007. A Dictionary of Environment and Conservation (1 ed.), Oxford University Press, DOI:10.1093/acref/9780198609957.001.0001 
2. Zeven, A. C.,1998. “Landraces: A Review of Definitions and classifications”. Euphytica. 104 (2): 127–139. doi:10.1023/A:1018683119237. S2CID 20631394. 
3. Harlan, J.R., 1975. Our vanishing genetic resources. Science 188:618–621.
4. FAO, 2019. Voluntary guidelines for the conservation and sustainable use of farmers’ varieties/landraces. https://www. fao. org/ policy- suppo rt/ tools- and- publicatio ns/resou rces- detai ls/ en/c/ 12630 74/ Accessed 4 June 20234
5. Carranza-Gallego, G., Guzmán, G.I., Garcia-Ruíz, R., González de Molina, M., Aguilera, E., 2019. Addressing the Role of Landraces in the Sustainability of Mediterranean Agroecosystems. Sustainability. 11(21):6029. 
6. Shroyer, J. P., and T. S. Cox., 1993. Productivity and adaptive capacity of winter-wheat landraces and modern cultivars grown under low-fertility conditions. Euphytica 70: 27-33
7. Marone, Daniela, Maria A. Russo, Antonia Mores, Donatella B. M. Ficco, Giovanni Laidò, Anna M. Mastrangelo, and Grazia M. Borrelli., 2021. “Importance of Landraces in Cereal Breeding for Stress Tolerance” Plants 10, no. 7: 1267. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10071267 
8. Ortman, T., Sandström, E., Bengtsson, J., Watson, C. A., & Bergkvist, G., 2023. Farmers’ motivations for landrace cereal cultivation in Sweden. Biological Agriculture & Horticulture, 39(4), 247–268. https://doi.org/10.1080/01448765.2023.2207081
9. Gupta, Chainika & Salgotra, Romesh & Mahajan, Gulshan. (2020). Future Threats and Opportunities Facing Crop Wild Relatives and Landrace Diversity. DOI:10.1007/978-981-15-0156-2_14. 
10. Official Journal of the European Union, COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 2008/62/EC, L 162/13, 21.6.2008
11. Official Journal of the European Union, COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 2009/145/EC, L 312/44, 27.11.2009
12. Rümker, K. von, 1908. Die systematische Einteilung und Benennung der Getreidesorten für praktische Zwecke. Jahrbuch der Deutschen landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft 23: 137–167.
13. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/landrace

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