Agricultural Systems and Food Security

Professor: Dr. Saltanat Mambetova

Student: Adnan Ali
Assignment: Reflection paper 1

Botany of Desire: The Apple by Michael Pollan

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, a catchy phrase tossed by the Americans
to encourage its apple industry. The phrase not just encouraged people to consume
more apples and grow their industry but also allowed the apple genome itself to flourish
like never before. If we look back at the history of life on earth, every single species is in
a constant race for survival and to make sure of its survival, they evolve according to
their surroundings to cope with the change in their habitat. Every single species has a
peculiar feature that makes it distinctive in the environment and that is a result of
hundreds of thousands of years of evolution. For instance, most of the fruit plants
blossom before fruition and the blossom attracts different varieties of insects, which
feed themselves with the nectar and perform cross-pollination in favor, unintentionally.
This process of blossom with beautiful and colorful flowers would have no effect on the
fruit plant and would have been totally unnecessary but the plant requires it to
reproduce with a different plant, with different genes. In short, they evolved themselves
to bear flowers that can fulfil the desires of an insect and can fulfil their survival wish.
Apple shares the same story and this time; we are the bees. Apple originated first
in the mountain forests of now Kazakhstan, which is today considered the gene bank of
apples. It is from there that it travelled to every corner of the world via silk route. The
main reason for its drastic and fast expansion lies in its peculiar feature, sweetness.
Sweetness have always been so dear to mankind, that we always have an urge for it.
This urge comes from the history when sweet was rear and was filled with
carbohydrates that can keep an early human going for a day. So, it was precious. We
transported apple to every corner for our own good, which benefited the apple gene too.
The video argued that, man do not control plants but its plant that controls us and it
might sound sane considering the example given above, that it trades its sweetness
with us in return of its species expansion. But I would like to think otherwise. I believe
that it is not about who is controlling who but rather its about a mutual relationship,
symbiosis. Mankind’s relation to apple or any other sort of plant is reciprocal, we benefit
each other to assure each other’s survival and that is how our ecosystem works. Some
plants develop a certain type of characteristic in their fruit that not every fruit eating
species can eat them, its rather targeted to some species who are more efficient in
spreading their seeds and so we can see a symbiosis in that too. Now, this could be
way around, and some plants would develop features to repel animals, maybe for the
fact that they have some other ways of reproduction or they want to rely on other
elements of earth. These features can include toxic substances or thrones/spikes, but
the goal is to deter animals and animal do ignore these plants, which is beneficial for
both of them and again symbiosis.
 In a nutshell, what I concluded from the video is that symbiosis is the key to
sustainable livelihood for both species involved and so we should respect it and explore
it to the fullest. But if we start overexploitation of this mutual relationship and bend most
of the benefits towards ourselves, we are foredoomed to acknowledge that its not going
to benefit us in the long term. A sustainable, reciprocal and a sound symbiotic relation
with any food source (apple) is the only way we can ensure our survival and growth.