Reading Comprehension

PT156 · S1 · P1 · Q5 Heirloom Crops

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Because most agricultural practices in North America produce row after row of only a few, genetically identical, varieties of crops, the continent's food system rests precariously on a rapidly eroding genetic base, increasingly susceptible to pests and disease.

Topic

North American agriculture’s growing reliance on a few genetically identical crops, and the importance of conserving heirloom crop varieties and indigenous agricultural knowledge.

Framework

Problem / Solution

Main Point

The main point is that North American agriculture is at risk due to its dependence on a narrow genetic base, and that saving heirloom crop varieties—and the indigenous knowledge that sustains them—is essential for more sustainable, pest- and disease-resistant farming. The Most Valuable Sentence: This idea is summed up at the end of the last paragraph:

P1: The Problem—Genetic Uniformity and Its Risks

North America mostly grows just a few, genetically identical crops, which makes the entire food system vulnerable to pests and diseases. The author introduces heirloom crops as a possible solution, noting they've only recently been recognized as valuable by mainstream scientists. Traditional methods focused on maximizing yield don’t maintain genetic diversity.

P2: Indigenous Methods and Genetic Diversity

Indigenous farmers have a long history of using practical genetics, such as hybridization, to create many different types of crops that are naturally more resistant to pests and tailored to their environment. These heirloom crops need less irrigation because they've been adapted for specific local conditions.

P3: Seeds, Knowledge, and Current Threats

Indigenous farmers have maintained both seeds and the knowledge to grow them through family and community networks. But, modern economic pressures and market economies have led to fewer small farmers, a move toward commercial seeds, and loss of these exchange networks. The author argues urgent action is needed to preserve both the genetic resources (heirloom crops) and the indigenous knowledge, to ensure future sustainability for agriculture.

5.

The information in the passage most strongly supports which one of the following statements?

  1. Revitalizing seed exchange networks will

    Too Strong: essential Unsupported Causal Relationship

    Can we find any sentence to justify calling heirloom seed exchange networks an essential aspect of traditional indigenous culture? The passage is never talking about revitalizing seed exchange networks and thus preserving culture. It's more like, "let's try to take as much knowledge as we can from this indigenous wisdom so that we can save crop diversity!"

    8% picked this

  2. The heirloom crops of indigenous

    Too Strong: the only solution

    We can support that heirloom crops are part of a solution to the problem of the eroding genetic base, but we have no support for the extreme claim that it's the only solution.

    3% picked this

  3. North American farmers have always

    Too Strong: always

    Can we support the idea that not one North American farmer has ever agreed to switch to nonheirloom, commercial crop varieties? Of course not. We can't say anything about every single North American farmer (other than that their land is on the continent of North America). The passage even contradicts this in the final paragraph, saying that there is now a "dwindling number of small farmers, many of whom plant nonheirloom, commercial seed varieties".

    0% picked this

  4. Correct

    Maintaining many varieties of a

    Why this is right

    This is the only answer with moderate language: Doing X can have advantages over Doing Y So on a quick first pass, it's instantly our top contender. It seems to align with the overall gist of the passage. The passage is saying what we've been doing is concentrating on maximizing yield, and it's created the problem that we now face of having "only a few, genetically identical, varieties of crops". That first sentence of the passage says, "Because we are using a very non-diverse group of crops, our entire food system rests precariously on a rapidly eroding genetic base, increasingly susceptible to pests and diseases." If we were to maintain many varieties of a plant rather than just plant row after row of the variety that we've determined optimizes yield, then we would be less susceptible to pests and diseases. Our food system would be less threatened by a rapidly eroding genetic base.

    Skill tested: Inference · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    85% picked this

  5. Crop geneticists must rely on

    Too Strong: must rely

    Obviously this passage is suggesting that crop geneticists now see great value in North American farmers' long-standing knowledge about cultivating heirloom varieties. But no one is issuing this harsh decree that whenever a crop geneticist develops a new variety, they must rely on North American farmers' knowledge of local environments.

    5% picked this

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