Are Alternative Crops Needed for Future Sustainable Food Production?

The momentum to reduce global reliance on a few staple food crops has been growing in recent years, partly fuelled by a belief that the situation is precarious and the world is at risk of a major food crisis. In this context, the perspective paper poses the overarching question: “Are alternative crops needed for future sustainable food production?” In responding to the question, it critically analyses the following: the risk of reliance on a few staple food crops; the importance of widely grown, preferred crops that are not considered global staple food crops; the confusion surrounding the term “alternative crops” and other crop categories; the positive and negative characteristics of some candidate alternative crops compared to staple and commonly grown crops; the dangers of promoting indigenous crops as alternative crops; the current and expanding knowledge base of the three most important staple food crops for stress tolerances and nutritional content to support future food production; and research needs for developing alternative crops in a declining funding scenario for agricultural research and development. The emphasis is on the Global South, where future needs are likely to be greater. It concludes that unless the existing staple and widely grown food crops face catastrophic limitations to future food and nutritional security under changing climates or other known risks, with current limited available funding for research, emphasis should be given to further improvement of staple and widely grown crops to cope with stresses. Alternative crops with useful additional traits could be available to complement staple crops rather than replacing them. Difficult choices may need to be made. Choices are likely to be country or regionally based, and cropping system-specific. It will be essential to consult with all actors—especially farmers—on the degree to which alternative crops have a role to play in contributing to future sustainable food production.