Landrace cannabis: Difference between revisions

There are differences between authoritative sources on the specific criteria which describe landraces, although there is broad consensus about the existence and utility of the classification. Individual criteria may be weighted differently depending on a given source's focus (e.g., governmental regulation, biological sciences, agribusiness, anthropology and culture, environmental conservation, home-growing and breeding, etc.). Additionally, not all populations agreed to be landraces exhibit every characteristic of a landrace.^[4]

General features that characterize a landrace may include:

It is morphologically distinctive and identifiable (i.e., has particular and recognizable characteristics or properties) yet remains "dynamic".^[4]^[5]

It is genetically adapted to and has a reputation for being able to withstand the conditions of the local environment including climate, disease and pests even cultural practices.^[4]^[5]

It is not the product of formal (governmental, organizational, or private) breeding programs and may lack systematic selection, development and improvement by breeders.^[2]^[6]^[4]^[7]

It is maintained and fostered less deliberately than a standardized breed/cultivar, with its genetic isolation principally a matter of geography acting upon whatever plants that happened to be brought by humans to a given area.^[2]

It has a historical origin in a specific geographic area, will usually have its own local name(s) and will often be classified according to intended purpose.^[4]^[5]^[7]

Where yield can be measured, a landrace will show high stability of yield, even under adverse conditions, but a moderate yield level, even under carefully managed conditions.^[6]

At the level of genetic testing, its heredity will show a degree of integrity, but still some genetic heterogeneity (i.e. genetic diversity).^[4]^[5]^[7]^[8]

Mass selection

A defining mechanism of landrace maintenance is mass selection: the practice of farmers saving seed from the general population of a crop rather than selecting individual plants for controlled crosses. In each growing cycle, farmers harvest seed from the field as a whole (or from the best-performing portion of it), sow that seed the following season and allow open pollination to occur across the population. This process sustains the genetic diversity within a landrace while applying gradual, directional selection pressure toward locally favoured traits such as vigour, flowering time, resin production or resistance to local pests and diseases.^[6]^[1]

Mass selection is what makes a landrace a population rather than a line. Unlike the pedigree selection and controlled crosses used in formal breeding programs, mass selection preserves a broad range of genotypes within the population, which in turn provides the raw material for ongoing adaptation to shifting environmental and cultural conditions.^[1]^[6] This genetic breadth is also why individual plants within a landrace may vary considerably in appearance and chemistry while still belonging to a recognizably coherent population.

In cannabis, mass selection has historically taken place alongside practices such as roguing of male plants for sinsemilla production or selective retention of resin-heavy females for charas and hashish making. These practices exert stronger selection pressure than simple bulk harvest and may over time shift the population's characteristics more rapidly, though they remain distinct from the systematic line-breeding that defines a formal cultivar.^[2]

Terminology

Historically, the term "landrace" was coined in the early 20th century (von Rümker, 1908) to distinguish traditional farmer varieties from modern, uniform cultivars. Early definitions focused on populations that had evolved without formal breeding programs and were selected primarily by farmers through traditional practices.^[1]^[3]^[6]

Over time, however, scholars recognised that landraces are not static or relic-like. They are dynamic populations, constantly evolving due to natural selection in local environments, ongoing seed exchange among farmers and occasional introgression from other cultivars or hybrids.

Zeven (1998) emphasized that landraces continuously "contaminate" each other through gene flow, leading to gradual adaptation and genetic shifts rather than fixed, pure lines.^[6]

An expanded definition

Modern scholarship, notably that of Casañas et al. (2017), has proposed an expanded definition of the landrace concept. They argue that landraces can legitimately incorporate modern breeding techniques as long as they remain tied to local adaptation, cultural practices and farmer participation.^[1]

Casañas et al. propose:

"Landraces consist of cultivated varieties that have evolved and may continue evolving, using conventional or modern breeding techniques, in traditional or new agricultural environments within a defined ecogeographical area and under the influence of local human culture."^[1]

This expanded definition is not universally accepted. Critics argue that the incorporation of modern breeding techniques produces a cultivar derived from a landrace rather than a landrace that happens to use modern methods. The question of where a landrace ends and a cultivar begins remains actively debated in the agronomic literature and has no settled consensus.^[6]^[4]

When does a landrace stop being a landrace?

If the definition of a landrace is broadly agreed upon, the threshold at which a population ceases to qualify as one is not. Several processes can erode or dissolve landrace status:

Genetic displacement: when introduced hybrids or cultivars cross-pollinate with or outright replace a local population. In Morocco, the traditional cannabis landrace known as kif has been extensively displaced since the early 2000s by hybrid varieties with higher resin yields. As the kif population shrank, farmers began referring to it as beldiya (Arabic for "local"), a generic agricultural term used across crops to distinguish traditional cultivars from foreign introductions (roumiya). The lexical shift from a specific name to a categorical label is itself evidence of displacement: the need to call something "local" arises only when it is no longer the norm.^[9]

Formal breeding: when systematic pedigree selection, controlled crosses or backcrossing programs are applied to a landrace population, the resulting material may retain landrace-derived traits but is more accurately described as a cultivar or breeding line derived from a landrace.

Loss of farmer management: a landrace depends on ongoing human cultivation and mass selection. Feral or ruderal populations descended from former landraces, while potentially valuable genetic resources, are not themselves landraces in the agronomic sense, because the human selection component has been removed.^[6]^[4]

Bottlenecking through small samples: when a landrace population is reduced to a small number of seeds or plants (whether through ex situ storage, commercial redistribution or collection), genetic drift can rapidly erode the diversity that defines it. The minimum sample size required to adequately represent a cannabis landrace population remains an open question in the literature, though it is necessarily larger than the small seed lots typical of commercial distribution.^[1]^[6]

Autochthonous and allochthonous landraces

A landrace native to, or produced for a long time within the agricultural system in which it is found is referred to as an autochthonous landrace, while a more recently introduced one is termed an allochthonous landrace.^[6]^[4]^[10]

Within academic agronomy, the term autochthonous landrace is sometimes used with a more technical, productivity-related definition, synthesized by A. C. Zeven from previous definitions beginning with Mansholt's: "an autochthonous landrace is a variety with a high capacity to tolerate biotic and abiotic stress, resulting in a high yield stability and an intermediate yield level under a low input agricultural system."^[6]

Landraces, cultivars and hybrids

In cannabis nomenclature, these terms are often confused or used interchangeably, though they describe different genetic categories:

Landraces are populations that have evolved through natural and human selection in specific geographic regions over extended periods, maintaining genetic diversity while exhibiting local adaptation. They represent dynamic gene pools rather than fixed genetic lines.^[1]^[2]

Cultivars (cultivated varieties) are plants that have been intentionally selected and bred for specific, uniform traits through formal breeding programs. Modern cannabis cultivars are typically stabilized through pedigree selection and controlled crosses to express consistent characteristics across generations.^[2]

Hybrids result from intentional crosses between distinct parental lines, whether between different landraces, between cultivars or between landraces and cultivars. First-generation hybrids (F1) often exhibit hybrid vigor but subsequent generations may show significant phenotypic variation as the parental genetics segregate.^[2]

An important distinction in conservation contexts is between a landrace grown in its region of origin and the same genetic material grown elsewhere. The underlying genotype does not change when seeds are moved, but expression of traits such as resin chemistry, flowering time and morphology can shift substantially under different environmental conditions. This is the domain of terroir, and it is separate from the question of genetic identity. A landrace reproduction grown outside its region of origin may be termed an heirloom or preserved line; it retains the genetic profile of the source population but is no longer subject to the local environmental and cultural selection pressures that shaped it.^[2]^[6]

Biodiversity and Conservation

A significant proportion of farmers around the world grow landrace crops.^[6] However, as industrialized agriculture spreads, cultivars selectively bred for high yield, rapid growth, disease/drought resistance and other commercial production values are supplanting landraces, putting more and more of them at risk of extinction.

In 1927 at the International Agricultural Congress, organized by the predecessor of the FAO, an extensive discussion was held on the need to conserve landraces. A recommendation that members organize nation-by-nation landrace conservation did not succeed in leading to widespread conservation efforts.^[6]

Landraces are often free from many intellectual property and other regulatory encumbrances. However, in some jurisdictions, a focus on their production may result in missing out on some benefits afforded to producers of genetically selected and homogenous organisms, including breeders' rights legislation, easier availability of loans and other business services, even the right to share seed or stock with others, depending on how favorable the laws in the area are to high-yield agribusiness interests.^[11]

As Regine Andersen of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (Norway) and the Farmers' Rights Project puts it, "Agricultural biodiversity is being eroded. This trend is putting at risk the ability of future generations to feed themselves. In order to reverse the trend, new policies must be implemented worldwide. The irony of the matter is that the poorest farmers are the stewards of genetic diversity."^[11] Protecting farmer interests and protecting biodiversity is at the heart of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (the "Plant Treaty" for short), under the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), though its concerns are not exclusively limited to landraces.^[11]

Landraces played a basic role in the development of the standardized breeds but are today threatened by the market success of the standardized breeds. In developing countries, landraces still play an important role, especially in traditional production systems.^[12]

Cannabis-specific conservation challenges

Cannabis landraces face a distinct set of pressures that most food crop landraces do not. Decades of prohibition have driven cultivation underground, disrupted intergenerational knowledge transfer and subjected traditional growing regions to repeated eradication campaigns. At the same time, the rapid global spread of high-yield hybrids has introduced genetic contamination into regions where local populations were previously isolated.

The displacement of the kif landrace in Morocco's Rif Mountains offers a well-documented example. Chouvy and Afsahi (2014) recorded that hybrid varieties, introduced from Europe beginning in the early 2000s, replaced the traditional kif across the vast majority of cultivated area within roughly a decade, driven by three-to-five-fold increases in resin yield. The kif variety, adapted to the Rif's dry conditions and capable of rainfed cultivation, gave way to water-intensive hybrids that required deep wells and irrigation infrastructure. The authors documented roughly ten new hybrid varieties displacing kif across the region, with the most widespread, khardala, dominant by 2013.^[9]

Cannabis landraces played a foundational role in the development of the commercial strains available today, but are now threatened by the market success of those same strains. In traditional production systems across South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, landraces continue to underpin local economies, cultural practices and traditional uses.^[12]^[2]

In situ and ex situ conservation

Three approaches have been used to conserve plant landraces:

In situ: the landrace is grown and conserved by farmers on farms in its region of origin.
Ex situ (institutional): the landrace is conserved in a gene bank or seed vault, using controls such as laminated packets kept frozen at −18 °C (0 °F).
Ex situ (informal): the landrace is grown and reproduced in small numbers by enthusiasts, collectors or seed companies, either indoors or outdoors, outside its region of origin.

These approaches are not equivalent. In situ conservation keeps the evolutionary process running: the population continues to adapt to local conditions through ongoing natural selection and mass selection by farmers, and maintains its relationship with the cultural and ecological context that shaped it. Ex situ conservation, whether institutional or informal, preserves a genetic snapshot of the population at the time of collection, but removes it from the selection pressures that define a landrace as a living system. Both are necessary. In situ conservation maintains the process; ex situ conservation provides insurance against the loss of the population itself.^[1]^[6]^[4]

As the amount of agricultural land dedicated to growing landrace crops declines, such as in the example of wheat landraces in the Fertile Crescent, landraces can become extinct in cultivation. Ex situ conservation practices are therefore considered essential to avoid losing genetic diversity entirely. Research published in 2020 suggested that existing ways of cataloging diversity within ex situ gene banks fall short of capturing the appropriate information for landrace crops.^[13]

An in situ conservation effort to save the Berrettina di Lungavilla squash landrace made use of participatory plant breeding practices in order to incorporate the local community into the work.^[14]

Landrace Cannabis Growing Regions

The following growing regions are documented on the wiki. This listing updates automatically as new region pages are created.

Growing Region	Gene Pool	Country
Northern Laos	Highland Lao Gene Pool	Laos
Northeastern Thailand	Lao-Isan Gene Pool	Thailand
Central Himalayas	South Asian Gene Pool	Nepal
North Bengal Plains	South Asian Gene Pool	India
Eastern Himalayas	South Asian Gene Pool	India Bhutan
Western Himalayas	South Asian Gene Pool	India
The Dooars	South Asian Gene Pool	India
Southern Cambodia	Southeast Asian Gene Pool	Cambodia

See Growing regions for the full interactive listing with maps and region cards.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Botany series}}
 == Definition ==
-A landrace is a [[cultivation|cultivated]] plant [[population|population]] that has evolved over time in a specific [[growing regions|geographic region]], shaped by [[natural selection|local environmental conditions]] and [[Selective Breeding|human cultural practices]]. Landraces are [[genetic diversity|genetically diverse]] and locally [[adaptation|adapted]], often valued for unique [[traits|traits]] such as [[flavour|flavour]], [[resilience|resilience]] or suitability for [[traditional cannabis usage|traditional uses]]. [1] [2] [3]
+'''Landrace cannabis''' is a [[cultivation|cultivated]] cannabis [[population|population]] that has evolved over time in a specific [[growing regions|geographic region]], shaped by [[natural selection|local environmental conditions]] and [[Selective Breeding|human cultural practices]]. Cannabis landraces are [[genetic diversity|genetically diverse]] and locally [[adaptation|adapted]], often valued for unique [[traits|traits]] such as [[flavour|flavour]], [[resilience|resilience]] or suitability for [[traditional cannabis usage|traditional uses]].<ref name="casanas">Casañas, F., Simó, J., Casals, J., & Prohens, J. (2017). [https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2017.00145 "Toward an evolved concept of landrace."] ''Frontiers in Plant Science'', 8, 145.</ref><ref name="clarke">Clarke, R. C., & Merlin, M. D. (2013). ''Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany''. University of California Press.</ref><ref name="vonrumker">von Rümker, K. (1908). "Die systematische Einteilung und Benennung der Getreidesorten für praktische Zwecke." ''Jahrbuch der Deutschen Landwirtschaftsgesellschaft'', 23, 137–167.</ref>
 == Characteristics ==
-There are differences between authoritative sources on the specific criteria which describe landraces, although there is broad consensus about the existence and utility of the classification. Individual criteria may be weighted differently depending on a given source's focus (e.g., governmental regulation, biological sciences, agribusiness, anthropology and culture, environmental conservation, home-growing and breeding, etc.). Additionally, not all populations agreed to be landraces exhibit every characteristic of a landrace.[5]
+There are differences between authoritative sources on the specific criteria which describe landraces, although there is broad consensus about the existence and utility of the classification. Individual criteria may be weighted differently depending on a given source's focus (e.g., governmental regulation, biological sciences, agribusiness, anthropology and culture, environmental conservation, home-growing and breeding, etc.). Additionally, not all populations agreed to be landraces exhibit every characteristic of a landrace.<ref name="camachovilla">Camacho Villa, T. C., Maxted, N., Scholten, M., & Ford-Lloyd, B. (2005). [https://doi.org/10.1079/PGR200591 "Defining and Identifying Crop Landraces."] ''Plant Genetic Resources'', 3(3), 373–384.</ref>
 General features that characterize a landrace may include:
-*It is [[morphology|morphologically]] distinctive and identifiable (i.e., has particular and recognizable characteristics or properties) yet remains "dynamic".[5][12]
+*It is [[morphology|morphologically]] distinctive and identifiable (i.e., has particular and recognizable characteristics or properties) yet remains "dynamic".<ref name="camachovilla" /><ref name="harlan1975">Harlan, J. R. (1975). ''Crops and Man''. Madison, Wisconsin: American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America. ISBN 0-89118-032-X.</ref>
+*It is genetically adapted to and has a reputation for being able to withstand the conditions of the local environment including climate, [[disease|disease]] and [[pests|pests]] even cultural practices.<ref name="camachovilla" /><ref name="harlan1975" />
+*It is not the product of formal (governmental, organizational, or private) [[breeding programs|breeding programs]] and may lack systematic selection, development and improvement by [[breeder|breeders]].<ref name="clarke" /><ref name="zeven">Zeven, A. C. (1998). [https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018683119237 "Landraces: A Review of Definitions and Classifications."] ''Euphytica'', 104(2), 127–139.</ref><ref name="camachovilla" /><ref name="friishansen">Friis-Hansen, E. & Sthapit, B., eds. (2000). ''Participatory Approaches to the Conservation and Use of Plant Genetic Resources''. Rome: International Plant Genetic Resources Institute. p. 199. ISBN 978-92-9043-444-3.</ref>
+*It is maintained and fostered less deliberately than a standardized [[breed|breed]]/[[cultivar|cultivar]], with its genetic isolation principally a matter of geography acting upon whatever plants that happened to be brought by humans to a given area.<ref name="clarke" />
+*It has a historical origin in a specific [[growing areas|geographic area]], will usually have its own local name(s) and will often be classified according to intended purpose.<ref name="camachovilla" /><ref name="harlan1975" /><ref name="friishansen" />
-*It is genetically adapted to and has a reputation for being able to withstand the conditions of the local environment including climate, [[disease|disease]] and [[pests|pests]] even cultural practices.[5][12]
+*Where [[yield|yield]] can be measured, a landrace will show high stability of yield, even under adverse conditions, but a moderate yield level, even under carefully managed conditions.<ref name="zeven" />
-*It is not the product of formal (governmental, organizational, or private) [[breeding programs|breeding programs]] and may lack systematic selection, development and improvement by [[breeder|breeders]].[2][4][5][13]
+*At the level of genetic testing, its [[heredity|heredity]] will show a degree of integrity, but still some genetic [[heterogeneity|heterogeneity]] (i.e. genetic diversity).<ref name="camachovilla" /><ref name="harlan1975" /><ref name="friishansen" /><ref name="harlan1971">Harlan, J. R. (1971). [https://doi.org/10.1126/science.174.4008.468 "Agricultural Origins: Centers and Noncenters."] ''Science'', 174(4008), 468–474.</ref>
-*It is maintained and fostered less deliberately than a standardized [[breed|breed]]/[[cultivar|cultivar]], with its genetic isolation principally a matter of geography acting upon whatever plants that happened to be brought by humans to a given area.[2]
+=== Mass selection ===
-*It has a historical origin in a specific [[growing areas|geographic area]], will usually have its own local name(s) and will often be classified according to intended purpose.[5][12][13]
+A defining mechanism of landrace maintenance is [[mass selection]]: the practice of farmers saving seed from the general population of a crop rather than selecting individual plants for controlled crosses. In each growing cycle, farmers harvest seed from the field as a whole (or from the best-performing portion of it), sow that seed the following season and allow open pollination to occur across the population. This process sustains the [[genetic diversity]] within a landrace while applying gradual, directional [[selection pressure]] toward locally favoured traits such as vigour, [[flowering time]], resin production or resistance to local [[pests]] and [[disease|diseases]].<ref name="zeven" /><ref name="casanas" />
-*Where [[yield|yield]] can be measured, a landrace will show high stability of yield, even under adverse conditions, but a moderate yield level, even under carefully managed conditions.[7]
+Mass selection is what makes a landrace a ''population'' rather than a ''line''. Unlike the pedigree selection and controlled crosses used in formal [[breeding programs]], mass selection preserves a broad range of [[genotype|genotypes]] within the population, which in turn provides the raw material for ongoing [[adaptation]] to shifting environmental and cultural conditions.<ref name="casanas" /><ref name="zeven" /> This genetic breadth is also why individual plants within a landrace may vary considerably in appearance and chemistry while still belonging to a recognizably coherent population.
-*At the level of genetic testing, its [[heredity|heredity]] will show a degree of integrity, but still some genetic [[heterogeneity|heterogeneity]] (i.e. genetic diversity).[5][12][13][14]
+In [[cannabis]], mass selection has historically taken place alongside practices such as [[roguing]] of male plants for [[sinsemilla]] production or selective retention of resin-heavy females for [[charas]] and [[hashish]] making. These practices exert stronger selection pressure than simple bulk harvest and may over time shift the population's characteristics more rapidly, though they remain distinct from the systematic line-breeding that defines a formal [[cultivar]].<ref name="clarke" />
 == Terminology ==
-Historically, the term “landrace” was coined in the early 20th century (von Rümker, 1908) to distinguish traditional farmer varieties from modern, uniform cultivars. Early definitions focused on populations that had evolved without formal breeding programs and were selected primarily by farmers through traditional practices. [1] [3] [4]
+Historically, the term "landrace" was coined in the early 20th century (von Rümker, 1908) to distinguish traditional farmer varieties from modern, uniform cultivars. Early definitions focused on populations that had evolved without formal breeding programs and were selected primarily by farmers through traditional practices.<ref name="casanas" /><ref name="vonrumker" /><ref name="zeven" />
 Over time, however, scholars recognised that landraces are not static or relic-like. They are dynamic populations, constantly evolving due to natural selection in local environments, ongoing [[seed exchange|seed exchange]] among farmers and occasional [[introgression|introgression]] from other cultivars or [[hybrids|hybrids]].
-Zeven (1998) emphasized that landraces continuously “contaminate” each other through [[gene flow|gene flow]], leading to gradual adaptation and genetic shifts rather than fixed, pure lines. [4]
+Zeven (1998) emphasized that landraces continuously "contaminate" each other through [[gene flow|gene flow]], leading to gradual adaptation and genetic shifts rather than fixed, pure lines.<ref name="zeven" />
+=== An expanded definition ===
-Modern scholarship, notably that of Casañas et al. (2017), has further expanded the concept. They argue that landraces can legitimately incorporate modern [[breeding techniques|breeding techniques]] as long as they remain tied to local adaptation, cultural practices and farmer participation. [1]
+Modern scholarship, notably that of Casañas et al. (2017), has proposed an expanded definition of the landrace concept. They argue that landraces can legitimately incorporate modern [[breeding techniques|breeding techniques]] as long as they remain tied to local adaptation, cultural practices and farmer participation.<ref name="casanas" />
 Casañas et al. propose:
-“Landraces consist of cultivated varieties that have evolved and may continue evolving, using conventional or modern breeding techniques, in traditional or new agricultural environments within a defined ecogeographical area and under the influence of local human culture.”  [1]
+"Landraces consist of cultivated varieties that have evolved and may continue evolving, using conventional or modern breeding techniques, in traditional or new agricultural environments within a defined ecogeographical area and under the influence of local human culture."<ref name="casanas" />
+This expanded definition is not universally accepted. Critics argue that the incorporation of modern breeding techniques produces a [[cultivar]] derived from a landrace rather than a landrace that happens to use modern methods. The question of where a landrace ends and a cultivar begins remains actively debated in the agronomic literature and has no settled consensus.<ref name="zeven" /><ref name="camachovilla" />
+=== When does a landrace stop being a landrace? ===
+If the definition of a landrace is broadly agreed upon, the threshold at which a population ceases to qualify as one is not. Several processes can erode or dissolve landrace status:
+*'''Genetic displacement''': when introduced [[hybrids]] or [[cultivars]] cross-pollinate with or outright replace a local population. In [[Morocco]], the traditional cannabis landrace known as ''[[kif]]'' has been extensively displaced since the early 2000s by hybrid varieties with higher resin yields. As the ''kif'' population shrank, farmers began referring to it as ''beldiya'' (Arabic for "local"), a generic agricultural term used across crops to distinguish traditional cultivars from foreign introductions (''roumiya''). The lexical shift from a specific name to a categorical label is itself evidence of displacement: the need to call something "local" arises only when it is no longer the norm.<ref name="chouvy">Chouvy, P.-A. & Afsahi, K. (2014). [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2014.01.001 "Hashish revival in Morocco."] ''International Journal of Drug Policy'', 25, 416–423.</ref>
+*'''Formal breeding''': when systematic pedigree selection, controlled crosses or [[backcrossing]] programs are applied to a landrace population, the resulting material may retain landrace-derived traits but is more accurately described as a cultivar or [[breeding line]] derived from a landrace.
+*'''Loss of farmer management''': a landrace depends on ongoing human cultivation and [[mass selection]]. Feral or [[ruderal cannabis|ruderal]] populations descended from former landraces, while potentially valuable [[genetic resources]], are not themselves landraces in the agronomic sense, because the human selection component has been removed.<ref name="zeven" /><ref name="camachovilla" />
+*'''Bottlenecking through small samples''': when a landrace population is reduced to a small number of seeds or plants (whether through [[ex situ conservation|ex situ storage]], commercial redistribution or collection), [[genetic drift]] can rapidly erode the diversity that defines it. The minimum sample size required to adequately represent a cannabis landrace population remains an open question in the literature, though it is necessarily larger than the small seed lots typical of commercial distribution.<ref name="casanas" /><ref name="zeven" />
+=== Autochthonous and allochthonous landraces ===
-=== Autochtonous and Allochtonous landraces ===
+A landrace native to, or produced for a long time within the agricultural system in which it is found is referred to as an autochthonous landrace, while a more recently introduced one is termed an allochthonous landrace.<ref name="zeven" /><ref name="camachovilla" /><ref name="fao2014">Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2014). [https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/agphome/documents/PGR/PubPGR/ResourceBook/TEXT_ALL_2511.pdf "Section B. Landraces: B.1. Introduction."] ''Resource Book for the Preparation of National Plans for Conservation of Crop Wild Relatives and Landraces''.</ref>
-A landrace native to, or produced for a long time within the agricultural system in which it is found is referred to as an autochthonous landrace, while a more recently introduced one is termed an allochthonous landrace.[7][5][9]
+Within academic agronomy, the term autochthonous landrace is sometimes used with a more technical, productivity-related definition, synthesized by A. C. Zeven from previous definitions beginning with Mansholt's: "an autochthonous landrace is a variety with a high capacity to tolerate [[biotic stress|biotic]] and [[abiotic stress|abiotic stress]], resulting in a high yield stability and an intermediate yield level under a low input agricultural system."<ref name="zeven" />
-Within academic agronomy, the term autochthonous landrace is sometimes used with a more technical, productivity-related definition, synthesized by A. C. Zeven from previous definitions beginning with Mansholt's: "an autochthonous landrace is a variety with a high capacity to tolerate [[biotic stress|biotic]] and [[abiotic stress|abiotic stress]], resulting in a high yield stability and an intermediate yield level under a low input agricultural system."[7]
+=== Landraces, cultivars and hybrids ===
-== Biodiversity and Conservation ==
+In cannabis nomenclature, these terms are often confused or used interchangeably, though they describe different genetic categories:
-A significant proportion of farmers around the world grow landrace crops.[4] However, as [[industrial agriculture|industrialized agriculture]] spreads, cultivars, which are selectively bred for high yield, rapid growth, [[resistance|disease/drought resistance]], and other commercial production values, are supplanting landraces, putting more and more of them at risk of [[extinction|extinction]].[citation needed]
+'''Landraces''' are populations that have evolved through natural and human selection in specific geographic regions over extended periods, maintaining genetic diversity while exhibiting local adaptation. They represent dynamic [[gene pool|gene pools]] rather than fixed genetic lines.<ref name="casanas" /><ref name="clarke" />
-In 1927 at the International Agricultural Congress, organized by the predecessor of the FAO, an extensive discussion was held on the need to conserve landraces. A recommendation that members organize nation-by-nation [[landrace conservation|landrace conservation]] did not succeed in leading to widespread conservation efforts.[7]
+'''Cultivars''' (cultivated varieties) are plants that have been intentionally selected and bred for specific, uniform traits through formal [[breeding programs]]. Modern cannabis cultivars are typically stabilized through pedigree selection and controlled crosses to express consistent characteristics across generations.<ref name="clarke" />
-Landraces are often free from many [[intellectual property|intellectual property]] and other regulatory encumbrances. However, in some jurisdictions, a focus on their production may result in missing out on some benefits afforded to producers of genetically selected and homogenous organisms, including breeders' rights legislation, easier availability of loans and other business services, even the right to share seed or stock with others, depending on how favorable the laws in the area are to high-yield agribusiness interests.[8]
+'''Hybrids''' result from intentional crosses between distinct parental lines, whether between different landraces, between cultivars or between landraces and cultivars. First-generation hybrids (F1) often exhibit [[hybrid vigor|hybrid vigor]] but subsequent generations may show significant [[phenotype|phenotypic variation]] as the parental genetics segregate.<ref name="clarke" />
-As Regine Andersen of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (Norway) and the Farmers' Rights Project puts it, "Agricultural [[biodiversity|biodiversity]] is being [[genetic erosion|eroded]]. This trend is putting at risk the ability of future generations to feed themselves. In order to reverse the trend, new policies must be implemented worldwide. The irony of the matter is that the poorest farmers are the stewards of genetic diversity."[8] Protecting farmer interests and protecting biodiversity is at the heart of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (the "Plant Treaty" for short), under the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), though its concerns are not exclusively limited to landraces.[8]
+An important distinction in conservation contexts is between a landrace grown in its region of origin and the same genetic material grown elsewhere. The underlying [[genotype]] does not change when seeds are moved, but [[gene expression|expression]] of traits such as resin chemistry, [[flowering time]] and morphology can shift substantially under different environmental conditions. This is the domain of [[Terroir in Cannabis|terroir]], and it is separate from the question of genetic identity. A landrace reproduction grown outside its region of origin may be termed an [[heirloom variety|heirloom]] or preserved line; it retains the genetic profile of the source population but is no longer subject to the local environmental and cultural selection pressures that shaped it.<ref name="clarke" /><ref name="zeven" />
-Landraces played a basic role in the development of the standardized breeds but are today threatened by the market success of the standardized breeds. In developing countries, landraces still play an important role, especially in traditional production systems.[6]
+== Biodiversity and Conservation ==
-=== In situ and ex situ landrace conservation ===
+A significant proportion of farmers around the world grow landrace crops.<ref name="zeven" /> However, as [[industrial agriculture|industrialized agriculture]] spreads, cultivars selectively bred for high yield, rapid growth, [[resistance|disease/drought resistance]] and other commercial production values are supplanting landraces, putting more and more of them at risk of [[extinction|extinction]].
-Three approaches have been used to conserve plant landraces:
+In 1927 at the International Agricultural Congress, organized by the predecessor of the FAO, an extensive discussion was held on the need to conserve landraces. A recommendation that members organize nation-by-nation [[landrace conservation|landrace conservation]] did not succeed in leading to widespread conservation efforts.<ref name="zeven" />
-*[[in situ conservation|In situ]] where the landrace is grown and conserved by farmers on farms.
+Landraces are often free from many [[intellectual property|intellectual property]] and other regulatory encumbrances. However, in some jurisdictions, a focus on their production may result in missing out on some benefits afforded to producers of genetically selected and homogenous organisms, including breeders' rights legislation, easier availability of loans and other business services, even the right to share seed or stock with others, depending on how favorable the laws in the area are to high-yield agribusiness interests.<ref name="andersen">Andersen, R. (2010). [https://www.farmersrights.org/getfile.php/133213-1671099544/Dokumenter/An%20issue%20of%20survival.pdf "An Issue of Survival."] ''Development & Cooperation''. Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung.</ref>
-*[[ex situ conservation|Ex situ]] where the landrace is conserved in an artificial environment such as a [[gene bank|gene-bank]], using controls such as laminated packets kept frozen at −18 °C (0 °F).
-*Ex situ where the landrace is grown and reproduced in small numbers by enthusiasts, either outdoors or outdoors.
-As the amount of agricultural land dedicated to growing landrace crops declines, such as in the example of wheat landraces in the Fertile Crescent, landraces can become extinct in cultivation. Therefore ex situ landrace conservation practices are considered a way to avoid losing the genetic diversity completely. Research published in 2020 suggested that existing ways of cataloging diversity within ex situ genebanks fall short of cataloging the appropriate information for landrace crops.[10]
+As Regine Andersen of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (Norway) and the Farmers' Rights Project puts it, "Agricultural [[biodiversity|biodiversity]] is being [[genetic erosion|eroded]]. This trend is putting at risk the ability of future generations to feed themselves. In order to reverse the trend, new policies must be implemented worldwide. The irony of the matter is that the poorest farmers are the stewards of genetic diversity."<ref name="andersen" /> Protecting farmer interests and protecting biodiversity is at the heart of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (the "Plant Treaty" for short), under the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), though its concerns are not exclusively limited to landraces.<ref name="andersen" />
-An in situ conservation effort to save the Berrettina di Lungavilla squash landrace made use of participatory plant breeding practices in order to incorporate the local community into the work.[11]
+Landraces played a basic role in the development of the standardized breeds but are today threatened by the market success of the standardized breeds. In developing countries, landraces still play an important role, especially in traditional production systems.<ref name="faoglossary">[https://www.fao.org/4/i3327e/i3327e.pdf Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. "Glossary of Selected Terms."] ''In Vivo Conservation of Animal Genetic Resources''. FAO Animal Production and Health Guidelines. UN Food and Agriculture Organization. pp. xv–xx.</ref>
-== See also ==
+=== Cannabis-specific conservation challenges ===
-* [[Cannabis Taxonomy]]
+Cannabis landraces face a distinct set of pressures that most food crop landraces do not. Decades of [[prohibition]] have driven cultivation underground, disrupted intergenerational knowledge transfer and subjected traditional growing regions to repeated [[eradication]] campaigns. At the same time, the rapid global spread of high-yield [[hybrids]] has introduced [[genetic contamination]] into regions where local populations were previously isolated.
-* [[Terroir in Cannabis]]
-* [[Genetic Drift]]
-* [[Traditional Seed Selection]]
-* [[Charas]]
-* [[Highland vs Lowland Varieties]]
-* [[Cannabis Botany]]
-* [[Conservation Status]]
-== References ==
+The displacement of the ''[[kif]]'' landrace in [[Morocco|Morocco's]] [[Rif Mountains]] offers a well-documented example. Chouvy and Afsahi (2014) recorded that hybrid varieties, introduced from Europe beginning in the early 2000s, replaced the traditional ''kif'' across the vast majority of cultivated area within roughly a decade, driven by three-to-five-fold increases in resin yield. The ''kif'' variety, adapted to the Rif's dry conditions and capable of rainfed cultivation, gave way to water-intensive hybrids that required deep wells and irrigation infrastructure. The authors documented roughly ten new hybrid varieties displacing ''kif'' across the region, with the most widespread, ''khardala'', dominant by 2013.<ref name="chouvy" />
-[1] Casañas, F., Simó, J., Casals, J., & Prohens, J. (2017). Toward an evolved concept of landrace. Frontiers in Plant Science, 8, 145. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2017.00145
+Cannabis landraces played a foundational role in the development of the commercial [[strains]] available today, but are now threatened by the market success of those same strains. In traditional production systems across [[South Asia]], [[Southeast Asia]], [[Africa]] and [[Latin America]], landraces continue to underpin local economies, cultural practices and [[traditional cannabis usage|traditional uses]].<ref name="faoglossary" /><ref name="clarke" />
-[2] Clarke, R. C., & Merlin, M. D. (2013). Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany. University of California Press.
+=== In situ and ex situ conservation ===
-[3] von Rümker, K. (1908). Die systematische Einteilung und Benennung der Getreidesorten für praktische Zwecke. Jahrbuch der Deutschen Landwirtschaftsgesellschaft, 23, 137–167.
+Three approaches have been used to conserve plant landraces:
-[4] Zeven, A. C. (1998). Landraces: a review of definitions and classifications. Euphytica, 104(2), 127–139. doi: 10.1023/A:1018683119237
+*[[in situ conservation|In situ]]: the landrace is grown and conserved by farmers on farms in its region of origin.
+*[[ex situ conservation|Ex situ]] (institutional): the landrace is conserved in a [[gene bank|gene bank]] or seed vault, using controls such as laminated packets kept frozen at −18 °C (0 °F).
+*Ex situ (informal): the landrace is grown and reproduced in small numbers by enthusiasts, collectors or seed companies, either indoors or outdoors, outside its region of origin.
-[5] Camacho Villa, Taina Carolina; Maxted, Nigel; Scholten, Maria; Ford-Lloyd, Brian (December 2005). "Defining and Identifying Crop Landraces". Plant Genetic Resources. 3 (3): 373–384. Bibcode:2005PGRCU...3..373V. doi:10.1079/PGR200591. S2CID 5234510.
+These approaches are not equivalent. In situ conservation keeps the evolutionary process running: the population continues to adapt to local conditions through ongoing [[natural selection]] and [[mass selection]] by farmers, and maintains its relationship with the cultural and ecological context that shaped it. Ex situ conservation, whether institutional or informal, preserves a genetic snapshot of the population at the time of collection, but removes it from the selection pressures that define a landrace as a living system. Both are necessary. In situ conservation maintains the process; ex situ conservation provides insurance against the loss of the population itself.<ref name="casanas" /><ref name="zeven" /><ref name="camachovilla" />
-[6] [https://www.fao.org/4/i3327e/i3327e.pdf Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. "Glossary of Selected Terms" (PDF)]. In Vivo Conservation of Animal Genetic Resources. FAO Animal Production and Health Guidelines. [https://www.fao.org/home/en/ UN Food and Agriculture Organization]. pp. xv–xx. [https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=n2:1810-0708 ISSN 1810-0708]
+As the amount of agricultural land dedicated to growing landrace crops declines, such as in the example of wheat landraces in the [[Fertile Crescent]], landraces can become extinct in cultivation. Ex situ conservation practices are therefore considered essential to avoid losing genetic diversity entirely. Research published in 2020 suggested that existing ways of cataloging diversity within ex situ gene banks fall short of capturing the appropriate information for landrace crops.<ref name="ramirezvillegas">Ramirez-Villegas, J., Khoury, C. K., Achicanoy, H. A., et al. (2020). [https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13046 "A gap analysis modelling framework to prioritize collecting for ex situ conservation of crop landraces."] ''Diversity and Distributions'', 26(6), 730–742.</ref>
-[7] [https://docslib.org/doc/13185206/landraces-a-review-of-de-nitions-and-classi-cations Zeven, A. C. (1998). "Landraces: A Review of Definitions and classifications". Euphytica.] 104 (2): 127–139. [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1018683119237 doi:10.1023/A:1018683119237]. [http://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:20631394 S2CID 20631394].
+An in situ conservation effort to save the Berrettina di Lungavilla squash landrace made use of [[participatory plant breeding]] practices in order to incorporate the local community into the work.<ref name="andreani">Andreani, L., Camerini, G., Delogu, C., et al. (2022). [https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-021-01294-2 "How to save a landrace from extinction: the example of a winter squash landrace (''Cucurbita maxima'' Duchesne) in Northern Italy (Lungavilla-Pavia)."] ''Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution'', 69(3), 1163–1178.</ref>
-[8] [https://www.farmersrights.org/getfile.php/133213-1671099544/Dokumenter/An%20issue%20of%20survival.pdf Andersen, Regine (April 2010). "An Issue of Survival". Development & Cooperation.] Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung.
+== Landrace Cannabis Growing Regions ==
-[9] "Section B. Landraces: B.1. Introduction" (PDF). [https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/agphome/documents/PGR/PubPGR/ResourceBook/TEXT_ALL_2511.pdf Resource Book for the Preparation of National Plans for Conservation of Crop Wild Relatives and Landraces. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations]. 2014.
+The following [[growing regions]] are documented on the wiki. This listing updates automatically as new region pages are created.
-[10] [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ddi.13046 Ramirez-Villegas, Julian; Khoury, Colin K.; Achicanoy, Harold A.; Mendez, Andres C.; Diaz, Maria Victoria; Sosa, Chrystian C.; Debouck, Daniel G.; Kehel, Zakaria; Guarino, Luigi (2020). "A gap analysis modelling framework to prioritize collecting for ex situ conservation of crop landraces". Diversity and Distributions]. 26 (6): 730–742. Bibcode:2020DivDi..26..730R. doi:10.1111/ddi.13046. hdl:10568/108131. ISSN 1366-9516. JSTOR 26914952. S2CID 216486179.
+{{#ask:
+ [[Category:Growing Regions]]
+ |?Has gene pool=Gene Pool
+ |?Has country=Country
+ |?Has conservation priority=Status
+ |mainlabel=Growing Region
+ |format=broadtable
+ |class=wikitable sortable
+ |sort=Has gene pool
+ |limit=50
+ |default=No growing regions documented yet.
+}}
-[11] [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10722-021-01294-2 Andreani, L.; Camerini, G.; Delogu, C.; Fibiani, M.; Lo Scalzo, R.; Manelli, E. (2022-03-01). "How to save a landrace from extinction: the example of a winter squash landrace (Cucurbita maxima Duchesne) in Northern Italy (Lungavilla-Pavia)". Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution]. 69 (3): 1163–1178. Bibcode:2022GRCEv..69.1163A. doi:10.1007/s10722-021-01294-2. ISSN 1573-5109. S2CID 244432667.
+''See [[Growing regions]] for the full interactive listing with maps and region cards.''
-[12] Harlan, Jack R. (1975). Crops and Man. Madison, Wisconsin: American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America. ISBN 0-89118-032-X.
+== See also ==
+* [[Cannabis Taxonomy]]
+* [[Terroir in Cannabis]]
+* [[Genetic Drift]]
+* [[Mass selection]]
+* [[Charas]]
+* [[Cannabis Botany]]
+* [[Gene pool]]
+* [[In situ conservation]]
+* [[Conservation Status]]
-[13] Friis-Hansen, Esbern; Sthapit, Bhuwon, eds. (2000). Participatory Approaches to the Conservation and Use of Plant Genetic Resources. Rome, Italy: International Plant Genetic Resources Institute. p. 199. ISBN 978-92-9043-444-3.
+[[Category:Cannabis Taxonomy]]
-[14] Harlan, Jack R. (1971). "Agricultural Origins: Centers and Noncenters: Agriculture May Originate in Discrete Centers or Evolve Over Vast Areas Without Definable Centers". Science. 174 (4008): 468–474. doi:10.1126/science.174.4008.468. JSTOR 1733521. PMID 17745730. S2CID 24239918.
+<references />