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Old Crop, New Society: Persistence and Change of Tartary Buckwheat Farming in Yunnan, China

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Abstract

Traditional agricultural systems are important for crop genetic resources conservation. Many scholars have addressed the problem of traditional cultivar replacement by modern varieties, but few have investigated the entire loss of traditional crops from farming systems. Our prior research suggested that tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum (L.) Gaertn.) agriculture is rapidly decreasing in Yunnan China, the center of the crop’s origin and an important repository of on-farm genetic diversity. Using interdisciplinary methodology to determine whether the crop is indeed in decline and evaluate reasons behind planting trends, we found a combination of interacting agroecological, socio-cultural, and institutional factors influence tartary buckwheat planting in Yunnan. Farmer ethnicity, presence of a commercial market for the crop, and government agricultural policy were particularly important. Low commercial value of the crop compared to other alternatives, reduction of available farmland, and labor shortages were major reasons cited for crop abandonment. Despite an overall reduction in tartary buckwheat planting across a wide spectrum of farms, we also found the crop retains subsistence, rotational and cultural value for many Yunnan farmers. We conclude that although Yunnan farms are increasingly managed commercially rather than for subsistence, tartary buckwheat will continue to occupy a niche in the agricultural landscape.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Studies, Warren Wilson College, PO Box 9000, Asheville, NC, 28815, USA

    Mary Temple Saunders Bulan

  2. Deparment of Agronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1575 Linden Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Joshua L. Posner & David Stoltenberg

  3. Development Research Institute, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650223, Yunnan, China

    Duoyi Peng, Xinhui Wang & Junfang Li

  4. Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Eve Emshwiller

  5. Department of Community and Environmental Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1450 Linden Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Randy Stoecker

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  1. Mary Temple Saunders Bulan
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Saunders Bulan, M.T., Posner, J.L., Peng, D. et al. Old Crop, New Society: Persistence and Change of Tartary Buckwheat Farming in Yunnan, China. Hum Ecol 45, 37–51 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-016-9871-4

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