Livestock diversity fading, risking food supply, group says

American Veterinary Medical Association

Livestock Diversity Fading,
Risking Food Supply, Group Says

Livestock genetic diversity is fading, with up to one-quarter of livestock breeds lost or at risk of disappearing, according to a recent paper.

Among poultry, upward of 79% of breeds are at risk of extinction.

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, a nonprofit organization that promotes farming sciences, published a paper in September that calls for efforts to protect genetic material that could help animal populations adapt, aid research, and fill specialty markets. The most effective conservation efforts combine living populations that can adapt to disease and other challenges and cryopreserved genetic material that can restore lost bloodlines, the paper states.

"In the face of the mounting depletion in genetic diversity among livestock species, there is an urgent need to develop and maintain an intensive program of sampling and evaluation of the existing gene pools," the paper states. "Genetic diversity can be preserved through living populations or cryopreserved for future use."

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Roast Heritage Turkey and Gravy

New York Times

Roast Heritage Turkey and Gravy

By Kim Serverson

Heritage turkeys can be tricky to roast; the flesh is firmer than that of a supermarket bird. P. Allen Smith, the Southern cooking and lifestyle expert from whom this recipe is adapted, suggests a day in a brine sweetened with apple cider and then roasting the bird on a bed of rosemary. Roasted giblets and a chopped hard-boiled egg add texture and depth to his country-style gravy. “The eggs and giblets make it a little more rustic and a little more interesting,” he said. “It’s the gravy that saves that dry turkey.”

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