1. Monoculture farming

2. What is monoculture farming?
Monoculture is the agricultural practice of producing or growing a single crop, plant, or livestock species, variety, or breed in a field or farming system at a time. Polyculture, where more than one crop is grown in the same space at the same time, is the alternative to monoculture.

3. Kiwifruit
Diseases, like PSA in kiwifruit spread faster because the plants are close to identical. Typically plants these days are produced from tissue culture and are as close to identical as the scientists can make them. However, if a pest attacks one plant successfully it will be able to attack every plant successfully and so problems spread quickly with sometimes devastating effect. This is what we are seeing in the Bay of Plenty.
For this reason monocultures require a lot more use of pesticide sprays to keep the bugs at bay and also typically require larger amounts of water and fertilisers.

4. Pine - Pinus radiata
Aotearoa (New Zealand) has planted extensive industrial tree plantations (more than one and a half million hectares), mostly based on one exotic tree species: Pinus radiata. In recent decades planting clonal stock has become standard practice. Currently, more than 95% of new planting (this includes new afforestation and planting after harvest) is based on Pinus radiata clones, selected primarily for rapid growth (and thus reliance on fertilisers), tree form to maximise the amount of `clear' (knot free) wood, and qualities that suit industrial purposes. Current research focuses indicate that it won't be long before the industry will be attempting to release genetically engineered material, particularly for herbicide (glyphosate) resistance, particular growth form or wood quality traits, and sterility (to stop naturalisation into indigenous ecosystems).

5. Barley
The intensification of modern agriculture has resulted in an increase in food production to meet the requirements of a growing worldwide population. The amount of cereals (wheat, barley, oats etc) coming off an area of land has increased from 3800 kg/ha in 1968 to 8000 kg/ha A major issue with intensification has been the reduction of suitable habitat for butterflies and other insect species and the development of plant monocultures. Monoculture is the continuous planting of the same crop over a large area. Doing this greatly decreases the amount of places that are suitable for insects and butterflies to nest/lay eggs and live in. Insects are our main plant pollinators, without this essential function that they provide us for free, there would be no food to feed the world.

6. Carrot – Daucus carota subsp. sativus

7. Canola - Brassica napus, or Brassica campestris, or Brassica rapa var.

8. The potato famine
The genetically identical lumpers were all susceptible to a rot caused by Phytophthora infestans, which turns non-resistant potatoes to inedible slime. Because Ireland was so dependent on the potato, one in eight Irish people died of starvation in three years during the Irish potato famine of the 1840s.

9. The trouble with bananas