Data from: Origins of food crops connect countries worldwide

Research into the origins of food plants has led to the recognition that specific geographic regions around the world have been of particular importance to the development of agricultural crops. Yet the relative contributions of these different regions in the context of current food systems have not been quantified. Here we determine the origins (“primary regions of diversity”) of the crops comprising the food supplies and agricultural production of countries worldwide. We estimate the degree to which countries use crops from regions of diversity other than their own (“foreign crops”), and quantify changes in this usage over the past 50 years. Countries are highly interconnected with regard to primary regions of diversity of the crops they cultivate and/or consume. Foreign crops are extensively used in food supplies (68.7% of national food supplies as a global mean are derived from foreign crops) and production systems (69.3% of crops grown are foreign). Foreign crop usage has increased significantly over the past 50 years, including in countries with high indigenous crop diversity. The results provide a novel perspective on the ongoing globalization of food systems worldwide, and bolster evidence for the importance of international collaboration on genetic resource conservation and exchange.针对食用植物起源的相关研究已使学界认识到：全球范围内的特定地理区域，对农作物的培育发展具有格外关键的意义。然而，在当前全球粮食系统的语境下，这些不同区域的相对贡献尚未得到量化评估。本研究明确了覆盖全球各国粮食供应与农业生产所涉及农作物的起源——即多样性核心区域（primary regions of diversity）。我们估算了各国使用本国以外多样性区域产出农作物（即外来作物（foreign crops））的程度，并量化了近50年来这类使用情况的变化趋势。各国在其所种植和/或消费的农作物的多样性核心区域方面，存在高度的关联性。外来作物在粮食供应与农业生产体系中均得到广泛应用：以全球平均水平计，各国粮食供应中有68.7%源自外来作物，而国内种植的农作物中则有69.3%为外来作物。近50年来，外来作物的使用占比显著提升，即便在本土农作物多样性丰富的国家亦是如此。本研究结果为全球粮食系统持续推进的全球化进程提供了全新视角，同时也进一步佐证了国际合作在遗传资源保护与交流领域的重要性。