Why an Article on Landrace Conservation?
At the March Historic England “Straw Harvesting Workshop we learnt about the Landrace Conservation Project from Gabrielle Clarke, PhD Researcher (DEFRA-funded), Plant Genetic Resources at the University of Birmingham.
How does this project support thatching you may ask?
The old straw varieties are the simple answer. Unlike modern wheat varieties, the old long stemmed corn are those needed to be grown to be harvested and produced for thatching straw, both Combed Wheat and Longstraw and research into them is to be encouraged.
Read on to find out more details on this fascinating and important research and its relevance to thatching.
Above: A field of ‘Squareheads Master’ wheat grown in Suffolk ready for harvest
What is Landrace Conservation?
Crop landraces are crop varieties that are grown by selecting, saving and resowing seed on farms over many generations. This has been happening for thousands of years since the beginning of human civilisations and has played a crucial role in human agricultural history. Over time, these landraces start to become locally adapted to the area where they’re grown and are much more resilient to climate change.
However, in the mid-20th century, there was a big push for increasing crop yields, and these landraces were increasingly being replaced by modern varieties or monocultures, such as the shorter wheat varieties we see in our fields today. This is incredibly concerning as it means we will lose our cultural heritage and the plants that may have the power to protect us against climate change.
Landrace conservation aims to limit these losses and make sure these landraces remain in cultivation to be enjoyed by future generations.
Above: ‘N59’ wheat growing in Devon, photo taken during a field visit by Gabrielle.
The Project
The main goal of this project is to make sure these landraces are protected and that the people growing them receive the recognition they deserve! There is currently no support for growers, and it is their responsibility alone to keep these varieties around today. We hope that by raising awareness for the importance of landraces, we can engage more people in wanting to support them.
From 2024 until now, I have been travelling round the country to speak to landrace growers to hear people’s experiences growing them and how they think we can improve their conservation. Eventually, this will form a ‘Landrace Strategy and Action Plan for Great Britain’ to give recommendations to Defra for future conservation work.
Conservation of Thatching Straw Varieties
Thatching is really important for landrace conservation as the varieties used are older and have higher levels of genetic diversity. As they are not usually commercially available, people also maintain them by saving seed, meaning that they may become locally adapted.
The thatching sector is the largest group of landrace growers in England and Wales, and we have you to thank for keeping these varieties alive. However, it is well known that British straw supply is at risk. We have carried out threat assessments of eight wheat landraces and all of them, even Maris Widgeon and N59 which are the two most common landraces grown for thatching, are considered threatened!
Conserving the landraces themselves goes hand in hand with conserving the trade, history and tradition was one of the main reasons people said they carried on growing landraces. Therefore, we hope that by conserving the materials, we are also doing something to help a heritage trade that has been so important through Britain’s history.
Above: Thatching straw harvest in Suffolk
Benefits of this Project for Thatching
One of the main issues mentioned by growers of thatching straw was seed supply. In the past few months alone, many people have told me that they’ve lost their seed and don’t know where they can find more. This is really concerning, as many growers have been growing these varieties for decades, and it is only set to get worse as our climate becomes more unpredictable.
To try and provide a solution (if only partial!) to this, we have set up the ‘English and Welsh Landrace Protection Scheme’ (EWLPS). Here growers can give a small amount of seed (two handfuls) to a genebank (the John Innes Centre for cereals) where it will be stored as a safety backup. If the grower has a bad harvest, they can then request seed back to bulk up again. This means that they can get seed that is already adapted to their fields and they know will grow well. It also means that if they stop growing it, other people can grow it in the future.
Related Papers
We have written two papers relating to this:
- One specifically focusing on wheat landraces
- The other a more general overview of landrace cultivation in Great Britain.
We will add these to this article when they are published.
If reading scientific papers isn’t your thing and you are interested in the topic but wanting something a bit lighter? We are also putting together an information book of different British landraces and how we conserve them which we will also add a link to when its published.
The Future for Landrace Conservation
The future of landrace conservation is looking much more promising than it was a few years ago!
We are in the process of making sure all British landraces are backed up in genebanks, and there is clear interest from policymakers in adding value to landraces and strengthening their conservation. We are optimistic for the future and hope that this project has spurred some momentum for years to come
Many Thanks
Many thanks to Gabrielle for taking the time to give us this fascinating insight into the important work she is doing on Landrace Conservation and how it fits in with thatched roofs.
It further emphasises the importance of keeping the old varieties, for genetic reasons as well as for maintenance of our thatched properties. The research, we understand has been extended until March 2027 which is good news.
It is hoped that this project will strengthen the support, enabling growers to keep growing and thatchers to keep thatching in straw well into the future.
If you want to know more, please email us and we can pass your details on to Gabrielle.
As ever, we will keep things updated, and keep everyone informed of further progress and when articles are published so added here, via our social media, Newsletter etc.