Cultivating Biodiversity

At first glance, today’s supermarket shelves seem to offer endless variety—aisles of cereals, global cuisines, and plant-based beverages in every flavor. But behind the packaging lies a surprising reality: by the end of the 20th century, 75% of the world’s food supply came from just 12 plant and five animal species, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

Despite the fact that more than 6,000 plant species have been cultivated for food, just nine account for about 66% of global crop production. This concentration leaves food systems vulnerable to climate shocks, pests, and nutritional decline.

The good news? A growing movement is working to rebuild biodiversity—reviving traditional crops and rethinking which ingredients end up on our plates.

What Is Biodiversity?

Biodiversity is often associated with rainforests and wildlife, but in the context of food, it has a much more immediate and measurable impact. At its core, biodiversity refers to the variety of life on Earth (Christianah and Folarin 2024). In agriculture, it encompasses the range of crops, livestock breeds, wild species, soil organisms, and even microbes that contribute to the way food is grown, processed, and consumed.

For food scientists, biodiversity is much more than just an ecological concern. Expanding the range of food ingredients is essential for improving resilience, nutrition, and sustainability. Underutilized crops offer unique proteins, fibers, and bioactive compounds for product development, while microbial diversity supports fermentation and preservation strategies that enhance quality, safety, and shelf life (WHO 2015). Together, these resources form a foundation for building more adaptive, future-ready food systems.

Why Ingredient Diversity Matters

• Enhancing Food Security. Ingredient biodiversity has a major role to play in ensuring global food security. As emphasized by the FAO, all dimensions of food security depend on biodiversity, including availability, access, utilization, and stability (FAO 2019).

One of the most immediate benefits is risk reduction. Global food production relies heavily on a small number of staple crops—namely wheat, maize, and rice—which increases vulnerability across the system.

“Relying on just three commodity crops for the majority of global calories leaves food systems exposed to crop failure, pests, and climate extremes,” says Emile Frison, member of IPES-Food (International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems) and senior advisor to the Agroecology Coalition. Diversifying the range of species and cultivars in production helps spread risk, making food systems more resilient to disruption.

• Boosting Nutritional Benefits. Ingredient biodiversity is key to improving both food and nutritional security. Diets centered on a few staple crops may deliver enough calories but often lack essential micronutrients. Including a broader variety of plant and animal species—especially traditional, indigenous, and wild foods—helps ensure access to the full spectrum of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.

The World Health Organization emphasizes that diverse diets, particularly those incorporating wild or traditional foods, are more likely to meet micronutrient needs—especially in communities facing hidden hunger, where caloric intake is sufficient but micronutrient deficiencies persist (Christianah and Folarin 2024).

Emerging evidence also suggests dietary diversity supports gut microbiome health, which underpins immune function, digestion, and disease prevention. A varied diet introduces a wider array of fibers, polyphenols, and bioactive compounds that nourish different microbial communities (Sandifer et al. 2015).

Expanding the diversity of grains, legumes, leafy greens, and fermented foods offers a practical path to better nutrition and improved health outcomes.

• Advancing Environmental Sustainability. Biodiversity begins with how food is grown. While agricultural monocultures dominate global production, they carry significant environmental costs, including soil nutrient depletion, increased reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and the accelerated decline of pollinators and other beneficial species (Dannenberg et al. 2024).

In contrast, diverse farming systems better align with natural ecological processes. Incorporating multiple crops with varying root structures and nutrient requirements helps restore soil health, reduce erosion, and support greater microbial and insect diversity. On-farm biodiversity also enables key ecosystem services such as pollination, pest control, and water regulation—services that monocultures tend to undermine (Christianah and Folarin 2024).

Climate change is the first driver, but consumer demand is also pushing companies to diversify regions, crops, and varieties.

Ingredient Biodiversity Initiatives

• Technology-Driven Initiatives. Digital platforms and analytical tools are playing an increasingly important role in advancing ingredient biodiversity, especially by helping food companies and producers navigate the complexity of supply chains, environmental pressures, and sourcing decisions.

“Climate change is the first driver, but consumer demand is also pushing companies to diversify regions, crops, and varieties,” says Martha Montoya, CEO of Agtools, a company that delivers real-time data insights for agricultural supply chains.

Yet moving from a narrow set of staples to a more diverse ingredient portfolio requires long-term coordination. “We need three- to four-year ingredient planning shared with farmers, not just one-off sourcing,” Montoya says.

Agtools’ analytics platform draws on more than 70 data variables—including climate patterns, exchange rates, regional phenological cycles, and labor disruptions—to give a fuller picture of what makes certain crops viable in specific locations. This kind of data infrastructure helps reduce risk in biodiversety-focused sourcing strategies by improving predictability and transparency across global supply networks.

Technology is also changing how biodiversity is measured and communicated. Planet-score is an environmental labeling system for food products. Based in France and currently used by more than 350 companies, Planet-score places biodiversity at the center of its product impact assessments. Depending on the product type, biodiversity accounts for 60%–80% of the overall score.

“The upstream part of the value chain, particularly on-farm production, represents around 85% of environmental impacts,” says Sabine Bonnot, head of science and purpose at Planet-score. “That’s why our scoring system places strong emphasis on practices such as crop rotation, pesticide use, soil coverage, and land management.”

This visibility is prompting change. Bonnot explains that many companies working with Planet-score have begun reformulating products and rethinking sourcing practices in response to biodiversity metrics.

“Some brands have stopped importing soy from South America, while others are developing pesticide reduction road maps or replanting hedgerows to boost on-farm biodiversity,” she says. By making biodiversity measurable and comparable, tools like Planet-score are helping shift sustainability from marketing language to operational strategy.

This intrinsically regenerative crop helps repair the environment while contributing to a more resilient and sustainable food system.

• Farming Initiatives. From perennial grains to climate-adaptive rotations, biodiversity is increasingly being cultivated at the farm level. These efforts aim not only to restore ecosystems, but also to build the foundation for a more resilient and diversified food supply.

One example is Kernza, a perennial grain developed by The Land Institute that requires no annual replanting. Its extensive root system—reaching more than 10 feet underground—helps prevent soil erosion, filters water, and supports below-ground biodiversity.

“This intrinsically regenerative crop helps repair the environment while contributing to a more resilient and sustainable food system,” says Tammy Kimbler, chief communications officer at The Land Institute.

Kernza is grown predominantly in the U.S. Midwest, but its reach is expanding via international research partnerships. It’s part of a broader movement to redesign cropping systems around long-term environmental benefits.

Other organizations are working to reintroduce grain diversity in European fields. In the Netherlands, the startup Springtail focuses on climate-adaptive crops like sorghum, rye, and heritage wheat—grains that can thrive with fewer inputs while enhancing soil health and microbial life.

“The grains we work with haven’t been bred for yield only and are therefore often more nutritious than standard grains,” says Springtail cofounder Annigje Jacobs. By integrating these crops into local rotations, farmers can break out of monoculture cycles and attract more above- and below-ground biodiversity.

In regions facing climate extremes, tree crops like Moringa are also gaining attention. Kuli Kuli Foods, founded by Lisa Curtis, partners with smallholder farmers to grow Moringa oleifera, a drought-resistant, nutrient-dense plant with deep roots in agroecological farming.

“Moringa isn’t just a tree—it’s an ecosystem builder,” says Curtis. Farmers interplant it with hibiscus, chilis, and groundnuts, creating regenerative systems that support pollinators and bird habitats while improving soil quality.

• Product Development Initiatives. While agricultural biodiversity begins in the soil, its success depends on demand. And that’s where product development plays a critical role. Food companies and innovators are translating underutilized ingredients into market-ready products, bridging the gap between biodiversity-friendly farming and everyday eating.

For Kuli Kuli Foods, product development isn’t just about innovation—it’s a vehicle for education. “We were never interested in playing the commodity game,” says Curtis.

“From day one, we’ve focused on value-added products that showcase Moringa in delicious, accessible formats,” Curtis continues. These include Moringa matcha lattes, supergreen gummies, and energy bars, all designed to introduce U.S. consumers to a nutrient-dense, climate-resilient crop. By anchoring Moringa in familiar formats and telling the story behind the ingredient, the company has helped expand Moringa’s reach and create incentives for more regenerative sourcing practices.

Springtail takes a collaborative approach to building ingredient biodiversity. Acting as a connector across the value chain, the company brings together farmers, millers, product developers, and chefs to co-create foods rooted in regional agriculture.

“We work across the entire chain—from grain selection and milling to recipe development and tastings,” says Jacobs. One recent example involved turning surplus sorghum—originally grown for biomaterial—into a breakfast cereal. While the product hasn’t launched yet, the process demonstrated how alternative grains can find new purpose through intentional cross-sector collaboration.

Grains like Kernza are also gaining traction as viable ingredients in branded consumer products. The Land Institute has partnered with a wide range of food companies to integrate the perennial grain into cereals, beers, and baked goods.

“The more food and beverage companies that use the grain, the more viable it becomes for farmers to grow it at scale,” says Kimbler. National brands like Cascadian Farm and craft brewers like Dogfish Head are among those helping to build demand and scale up production through high visibility launches.

These efforts underscore the opportunity for food companies to be more than end users; they can be catalysts. When diverse ingredients find their way into snacks, cereals, beverages, and breads—not as novelties, but as functional, flavorful components—biodiversity becomes a feature, not a footnote.

Let’s be honest—most Americans still can’t pronounce Moringa.

Challenges and Considerations

• Consumer Awareness and Demand. Ingredient biodiversity won’t scale without consumer demand, but most shoppers still gravitate toward what’s familiar, convenient, and well marketed. While food companies play an important role in raising awareness through product innovation, deeper shifts in the food environment are also needed.

“Let’s be honest—most Americans still can’t pronounce Moringa,” says Curtis of Kuli Kuli Foods. “Consumer education is a real challenge. But it’s also a huge opportunity.”

Others echoed the need for culinary and cultural relevance. “People often default to refined flour, unaware of the possibilities of diverse grains,” says Jacobs of Springtail.

Even when sustainability is a priority, biodiversity can be difficult to convey. Bonnot of Planet-score notes that while shoppers want transparency, they often respond first to more tangible issues like pesticide use or animal welfare. “Then they’re open to hearing more broadly about biodiversity,” she notes.

Still, raising awareness alone isn’t enough. “Consumers face bewildering pressures,” says Frison of the Agroecology Coalition. “They are influenced by marketing for ultra-processed foods and tend to choose what’s most visible and available.”

He emphasized the need to shift the food environment itself—through better market access for small producers, public procurement policies, and support for local food chains so that biodiversity-friendly options become the easy, affordable choice.

• Economic and Policy Barriers. Despite growing recognition of biodiversity’s value, the current food system continues to favor efficiency, uniformity, and scale, leaving little room for alternative ingredients or crops that fall outside commodity supply chains.

“Right now, the system is optimized for industrial wheat,” says Jacobs of Springtail. “Farmers get low prices, and the infrastructure—mills, factories, logistics—is all built around standardized grains. That makes it really difficult for underutilized grains to compete.”

Even when demand exists, the economic risk for farmers is high. Growing diverse crops can improve soil and ecosystem health, but those benefits often go uncompensated. Without supportive policies or financial incentives, farmers shoulder the burden of transitioning away from monocultures. Meanwhile, companies face added costs related to sourcing, processing, and scaling new ingredients.

Public policy can play a catalytic role in changing this. Frison points to the need for governments to promote more local, diverse food systems through procurement, infrastructure investment, and price supports.

“Despite the major costs to our health, environment, and society, it’s frustrating that current policies and subsidies overwhelmingly reward industrial monoculture agriculture,” says Frison. “Nearly 90% of the $540 billion spent on global agricultural subsidies supports practices that harm biodiversity. Meanwhile, farmers practicing agroecology or preserving native crops often receive little or no support.” Redirecting funding to support biodiversity-focused farming systems—particularly agroecology—is a critical step. “We urgently need to redirect incentives towards diverse, sustainable farming like agroecology,” Frison emphasizes.

• Research and Development. Expanding the role of biodiversity in the food system requires more than awareness. It demands investment in research, breeding, and infrastructure that supports lesser-known species and new farming systems. Yet, many of today’s food research and development efforts remain narrowly focused on yield, efficiency, or commodity crops.

“Investing in research to promote and support diverse farming is long overdue,” says Frison, who emphasizes the success of local initiatives that promote underutilized vegetables in countries like Kenya and India. Programs such as the Community Managed Natural Farming initiative in Andhra Pradesh in India have scaled biodiversity-rich farming to over a million farmers, boosting yields and incomes while delivering diverse, nutritious diets.

Montoya also stresses the need for better collaboration across the research and farming communities. “Funding for more collaborative research and development projects is essential,” she says. “Universities need to be more closely connected to farmers and ingredient scientists, working together on long-term solutions.” She also points out the need for shared access to farmland and laboratories to test new crops and systems.

The story of Kernza illustrates how long-term research can lead to transformative innovations. As Kimbler of The Land Institute explains, developing Kernza into a viable crop has required decades of breeding, data collection, and commercial partnerships.

“Kernza was first selected as a grain crop candidate in 1983,” she says. “We’ve made huge strides, but scientific hurdles remain—like increasing grain size, simplifying harvest, and scaling market demand to match supply.”

Rethinking the Future

The push for ingredient biodiversity is no longer a fringe idea. It’s becoming a strategic imperative for a food system facing climate uncertainty, nutritional gaps, and ecological decline. Across farms, labs, and product development teams, change is already underway.

But scaling this shift requires more than good intentions. It demands infrastructure, incentives, and collaboration that value diversity as a strength, not a risk. As awareness grows, so does the opportunity to design a food system rooted in resilience, regeneration, and possibility.ft