Reading Comprehension

PT156 · S1 · P1 · Q6 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.

6.

According to the passage, which one of the following is a cause of the dwindling stock of heirloom crop varieties maintained by indigenous farmers?

  1. North American farmers now exclusively

    Too Strong: exclusively Unrelated to Goal

    It's certainly true that most North American farming is based on maximizing yields, but we can't support the 100% categorical claim that every single North American farmer uses commercial crop varieties. Furthermore, this answer has nothing to do with our target sentence: "penetration of the world market economy into small agricultural communities .... discouraging small-scale, internal food production in favor of income-generating work."

    10% picked this

  2. The loss of crop genetic

    Unrelated to Goal Opposite, if anything

    There's nothing about disease or insects in our target sentence or in the last paragraph. "penetration of the world market economy into small agricultural communities .... discouraging small-scale, internal food production in favor of income-generating work." Furthermore, heirloom varieties are supposed to be better at resisting pests and diseases than are commercial crop varieties.

    3% picked this

  3. Agricultural researchers have not generally

    Unrelated to Goal

    There's nothing about researchers' not considering heirlooms viable in our target sentence or in the last paragraph more broadly. "penetration of the world market economy into small agricultural communities .... discouraging small-scale, internal food production in favor of income-generating work." This answer talks about why crop geneticists have tended to ignore heirlooms, not why indigenous farmers have started to abandon the practice of maintaining seed stocks.

    4% picked this

  4. Heirloom crop varieties have been

    Unrelated to Goal

    There's nothing about heirlooms being too difficult to adapt to large-scale production in our target sentence or in the final paragraph. "penetration of the world market economy into small agricultural communities .... discouraging small-scale, internal food production in favor of income-generating work." This answer talks about why large scale mega farms have tended to eschew heirlooms, not why indigenous farmers have started to abandon the practice of maintaining seed stocks.

    20% picked this

  5. Correct

    There are fewer farmers planting

    Why this is right

    This is a pretty annoying answer because it doesn't really connect with the explicit causal sentence the passage offered: "penetration of the world market economy into small agricultural communities .... discouraging small-scale, internal food production in favor of income-generating work." Instead, it's just pulling support from the invisible gist of the last paragraph. The first sentence of that paragraph talks about how the seed stocks are preserved by indigenous farmers who obtain seeds through long-standing family, community, and regional exchange networks, and who obtain knowledge of required cultivation methods through intergenerational exchanges, communicated orally. Since the following sentence takes on a pessimistic pivot ... Over the past century, however ... it implies that the first sentence is not happening as much anymore. The fact that there is a dwindling number of small farmers (many of them not even planting heirlooms anymore) means that there is less of this seed/knowledge-sharing network than there was before. So we can support that there are "fewer farmers planting heirloom crop varieties" and we can use common sense to add on that "if fewer farmers are doing the whole small-farm heirloom thing, then there will be a shrunken generation of heirloom experts to pass their knowledge and seeds down to the next generation".

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

    63% picked this

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