Does Modern Plant Breeding Reduce Flavour and Diversity?

From colourful carrots and Basmati rice to wheat and potatoes, scientific evidence shows how breeders improve taste, cooking quality, disease resistance and consumer choice.

In June 2026, more than 100 chefs from across Europe signed an open letter to Members of the European Parliament and EU agriculture ministers, calling for greater protection of seed diversity in the new EU Plant Reproductive Material Regulation. They warned of disappearing traditional varieties and declining culinary diversity. But one statement in particular caught my attention: the claim that modern crops are often bred for high yields and long shelf life, generally at the expense of flavour and nutritional value.

That is a remarkably outdated description of modern plant breeding. While productivity was a major priority in the decades following the Second World War, today’s breeders work on an extraordinary range of characteristics, including flavour, nutritional quality, appearance, texture, convenience, disease resistance and environmental resilience. Their achievements have transformed the assortment of crops available to farmers, growers and consumers. It seems rather unfortunate that chefs, of all people, should overlook the contribution of breeders to the diversity and quality of ingredients they use every day.

Just Look at the Supermarket Shelves

Whenever I walk through the fresh produce section of a supermarket, I am struck by how much the assortment has changed compared with what I remember from the 1980s. Carrots were predominantly orange, tomatoes mostly round and red, and watermelons large, with red flesh and plenty of seeds. Today, consumers enjoy a remarkable assortment of colours, shapes, sizes and flavours.

Consider carrots. Purple, yellow, red, white and bicoloured types increasingly appear alongside the familiar orange varieties. Many of these colours existed centuries ago, but modern breeding has helped bring them back into commercial production, combining their distinctive appearance with improved sweetness, texture, uniformity, storability and disease resistance.

Lettuce is another striking example. I remember when butterhead lettuce dominated supermarket shelves in the Netherlands. Iceberg subsequently became much more prominent, followed by an expanding assortment of romaine, Batavia, oakleaf, Lollo Rosso, Lollo Bionda, Little Gem and numerous baby leaf and multileaf types. This is not just an impression. A historical study of French and Dutch lettuce seed catalogues found that the number of distinct cultivars offered by seed companies more than doubled between the 1960s and the 1990s, reaching 534. Modern lettuce breedingcontinues to expand consumer choice through different colours, leaf shapes, textures and flavours, while incorporating resistance to diseases such as downy mildew. Today’s salad bowl offers considerably more variety than the familiar butterhead lettuce of my youth.

The same developments can be seen in watermelons, where smaller, seedless and differently coloured varieties offer consumers new choices. Melon breeders continually improve sweetness, aroma and texture, while broccoli breeding has delivered tender stem types and new culinary possibilities. Fruit breeders are equally active, introducing apple varieties with different combinations of crispness, sweetness and acidity, while developing strawberries, raspberries and blueberries with improved flavour and nutritional quality. Projects such as BreedingValue illustrate the importance of eating quality in modern berry breeding.

This expanding assortment is difficult to reconcile with the suggestion that breeders are primarily interested in producing larger quantities of tasteless, uniform crops.

Taste Was Already Important 40 Years Ago

The criticism also brings back memories of my own introduction to vegetable breeding. During my plant breeding studies in the mid-1980s, I spent a practical period at a major vegetable breeding company in the west of the Netherlands. One of my assignments was to evaluate the flavour of new tomato varieties. We measured sugar content and acidity and used tasting panels to assess aroma and eating quality. Flavour was already an important part of evaluating new breeding material, long before it supposedly became fashionable.

The tomato provides particularly convincing scientific evidence of how breeding priorities have evolved. In a 2019 study, Henk Schouten and colleagues at Wageningen University & Research examined 90 commercial greenhouse tomato varieties introduced between 1950 and 2016. They found that genetic diversity, which had reached a low point during the 1960s, subsequently increased eightfold according to the genetic markers and diversity measure used. The introduction of disease resistance genes from wild relatives contributed to the initial increase, followed by greater diversification of fruit size, shape, colour and flavour.

Research also challenges the assumption that traditional tomatoes necessarily taste better. A 2021 European sensory study, comparing traditional and modern varieties in France, Italy and Spain, found that the modern varieties tested were generally perceived as having more intense tomato flavour. Consumers in France and Spain also tended to prefer the modern varieties.

The Breeding Innovation Behind Traditional Foods

Even some of the foods that chefs regard as traditional owe much of their present qualities to breeding innovation.

Take Basmati rice, prized for its distinctive aroma and cooking characteristics. The variety Pusa Basmati 1121, released in India in 2003, was developed using genetic characteristics from traditional Basmati varieties. Breeders combined its desirable aroma and taste with exceptional grain elongation during cooking, resulting in a variety that became enormously successful in domestic and export markets. Subsequent breeding produced Pusa Basmati 1885, which retained the valued grain and cooking characteristics while introducing resistance to bacterial blight and blast diseases.

Or consider a glass of Pinot Noir from Burgundy. The grape variety may be centuries old, but the vines are commonly grafted onto specially bred rootstocks that protect them against the pest phylloxera. One example is 3309 Couderc, developed in the nineteenth century through crossing American grapevine species. Its extensive use illustrates how breeding helps preserve the cultivation of traditional European wine varieties.

There is a certain irony in celebrating the culinary qualities of these products while criticising the breeding innovations that helped make their continued production and improvement possible. Plant breeding is not only about creating something new. It is also about preserving the foods we value, improving their quality and overcoming the biological challenges that threaten their production.

Disease Resistance: A Benefit for Farmers and Consumers

Another major contribution of modern breeding is improved resistance to diseases and pests. Breeders have introduced valuable resistance genes into commercial varieties, often using genetic resources from landraces and wild relatives. This work helps protect harvests and can substantially reduce the need for crop protection products.

A peer reviewed study on apple scab provides a striking example. Researchers compared the susceptible apple variety ‘McIntosh’ with the resistant variety ‘Liberty’. Over three years, the conventional fungicide programme required an average of nine applications annually for ‘McIntosh’, compared with five for ‘Liberty’. Under the trial conditions, untreated ‘McIntosh’ fruit was unmarketable because of scab infection.

Similar benefits can be achieved through breeding potatoes resistant to late blight, one of the crop’s most destructive diseases. Modern potato breeding combines resistance with yield, texture, cooking quality and processing characteristics. Such improvements can benefit farmers through fewer losses and potentially lower input costs, while supporting more sustainable production.

This environmental contribution receives surprisingly little attention in public discussions about plant breeding.

Almost 10 New Varieties Every Day

Perhaps one of the most striking indicators of continuous breeding innovation comes from the European Commission itself.

According to its official Common Catalogue statistics, approximately 3,500 new agricultural and vegetable variety entries were added in 2024. That is almost 10 new varieties every single day. The total number of listed varieties increased from approximately 22,000 in 1999 to nearly 47,000 at the end of 2024. These catalogues identify agricultural and vegetable varieties eligible for marketing across the EU. The figures demonstrate the tremendous amount of breeding activity and the continuous introduction of new choices for farmers and growers.

And getting a new variety registered is only part of the challenge. Farmers need a convincing reason to grow it, and the market must see sufficient value in its characteristics. For fresh produce, that frequently means better flavour, texture, convenience or appearance, in addition to reliable agronomic performance. Varieties that fail to deliver value are unlikely to achieve lasting commercial success.

Chefs Demand Uniformity, Too!

The distinction is important. Chefs want access to a wide range of ingredients, but they also need each variety to deliver the culinary qualities they expect. After all, no chef wants to discover halfway through preparing a risotto that the rice behaves differently than expected, leaving some grains firm while others become excessively soft.

Consider a chef preparing risotto. The choice of rice variety matters enormously because different varieties have different starch compositions, which influence firmness, stickiness, liquid absorption and cooking behaviour. Carnaroli, Arborio and Vialone Nano have their own culinary characteristics, and chefs select them according to the result they want to achieve. Imagine preparing a risotto with rice grains that behave very differently during cooking, leaving some grains firm while others become excessively soft. A scientific comparison of rice varieties demonstrated how differences in amylose content affect cooking performance and texture.

The same applies to baking. Bakers need flour with reliable protein and gluten characteristics to achieve the desired dough behaviour, texture and loaf quality. Wheat breeders select for these characteristics, allowing millers to supply flour suited to different applications. Millers may also blend different varieties deliberately to achieve a consistent specification. Indeed, research on wheat cultivar mixtures has demonstrated that appropriately selected mixtures can improve the stability of baking quality across changing growing conditions.

Even potatoes illustrate this point. Varieties differ considerably in their suitability for boiling, roasting, frying or processing into crisps. Beyond texture and dry matter content, breeders pay attention to concentrations of reducing sugars and free asparagine, which influence the potential formation of acrylamide during high temperature cooking. A scientific study of potato varieties demonstrated significant differences in this characteristic, offering opportunities to develop varieties better suited to particular processing requirements.

These examples demonstrate something fundamental. Chefs want access to a wide range of ingredients, but they also expect each ingredient to possess reliable characteristics. They want to choose between different culinary qualities, not discover halfway through preparing a dish that their ingredients behave differently from what they expected.

Modern breeding helps deliver exactly that: a broad choice of varieties, each developed with particular characteristics and sufficiently consistent performance for its intended use. This also explains why varietal identity and seed quality standards are important. Farmers need confidence that the seed they purchase will produce the crop they expect, just as chefs need confidence in the ingredients they cook.

Variety registration and seed marketing requirements help provide that assurance. Europe’s provisional agreement on the new Plant Reproductive Material Regulation also provides for more flexible approaches to conservation and locally adapted varieties. Uniformity within varieties and diversity between varieties are complementary achievements of plant breeding. Both contribute to giving farmers, food processors and chefs the qualities and choices they need.

The 75% Diversity Claim Deserves Scrutiny

The chefs’ letter also repeats the familiar claim that 75% of plant diversity disappeared during the twentieth century. This statistic has become a favourite in biodiversity campaigns, despite serious questions about its scientific foundations.

In a comprehensive review published in New Phytologist, Colin Khoury and colleagues investigated the origins of this widely quoted estimate. They found that its precise empirical basis remains unclear and that it cannot be considered a comprehensive global measurement of crop diversity loss.

Another scientific meta-analysis, covering 44 studies of eight field crops, found a relatively modest decline in genetic diversity among released cultivars during the 1960s, followed by indications of recovery. The researchers found no evidence of a general, continuous narrowing of the genetic base of commercially released varieties throughout the twentieth century.

The loss of traditional landraces in particular regions is a genuine concern and deserves serious conservation efforts. But presenting an uncertain global statistic as an established fact does little to advance an informed debate. Nor should the loss of some traditional varieties be confused with the evolution of genetic diversity among modern commercial cultivars. When making claims to European legislators, scientific accuracy should be a minimum requirement.

What Do We Mean by Crop Diversity?

Crop diversity is not one single characteristic. At least five different dimensions should be distinguished.

| Type | What it measures |
| Species diversity | The range of crop species cultivated. |
| Varietal diversity | The number and diversity of varieties and landraces within a crop. |
| Genetic diversity | Genetic variation within and among plant populations and varieties. |
| Phenotypic diversity | Differences in colour, shape, flavour, texture, nutritional composition, cooking behaviour and processing quality. |
| Diversity in cultivation | The varieties and crops actually grown in fields, orchards and greenhouses. |

More colours, flavours and textures on supermarket shelves demonstrate greater consumer choice, while more registered varieties expand the options available to growers. Neither automatically measures genetic diversity in farmers’ fields. Accurate discussions about biodiversity must distinguish these different concepts.

Chefs and Breeders Belong at the Same Table

The chefs are right to value traditional varieties, regional specialities and distinctive flavours. But their letter presents an incomplete and outdated picture of modern plant breeding. The expanding assortment of vegetables and fruit, the remarkable improvements in crops such as Basmati rice, the development of varieties with specific cooking characteristics, and the environmental benefits of disease resistance are not coincidences. They are the result of decades of work by plant breeders.

Conservation organisations safeguard valuable genetic resources, and breeders use those resources to develop varieties that respond to new challenges and consumer preferences. Both activities contribute to maintaining and expanding the diversity available to agriculture and food production. The future of crop diversity will not be secured by choosing between conserving traditional varieties and developing new ones. We need both.

I would welcome chefs participating in breeding trials, evaluating new varieties and explaining the flavours, textures and cooking characteristics they value most. I suspect they would be surprised by how much attention today’s breeders already devote to precisely those characteristics. My own experience of assessing tomato flavour in the mid-1980s was an early introduction to a commitment that has only become more sophisticated over time.

Chefs are right to defend the diversity of ingredients available to them. But they should also recognise the people who help create, improve and maintain that diversity. Plant breeders are not the adversaries in this story. They are an essential part of the solution. Perhaps it is time for chefs and breeders to sit down together, preferably around a table filled with a colourful assortment of vegetables, fruit and other ingredients. After all, better food is what we are all working towards.