New research on tomato agrodiversity

Gabriela Toledo and I recently completed a scoping trip related to a new line of research on tomato agrodiversity in Mexico, which represents a key centre of origin in which tomatoes have been domesticated over >1,300 years.

Tomatoes are one of the world’s largest and most significant horticultural crop, and are staple ingredients in diets globally. However, rapid shifts in trade, incentives, diets and traditions mean that many ancestral tomato varieties are no longer grown. Agronomists, farmers and chefs alike report massive losses in tomato diversity in Mexico--including much of it in the last 10-15 years.

Our new line of research seeks to integrate photobiology (related to the carotenoids that give tomatoes their colour, flavour and smell), agronomy, ethnobotany, institutional economics, and gastronomy. This trip to Mexico City and Oaxaca served to identify tomato varieties of interest; engage new partners at botanic gardens, universities, restaurants and government agencies; collect initial tissue samples, and begin to plan a new transdisciplinary project to support the long-term conservation of tomato diversity in its centre of origin.