There’s a wider point about the way in which new varieties are assessed for “suitability” before being permitted onto the market. There’s a test called Value for Cultivation or Use which is designed to ensure that new varieties are actually better than the old ones, rather than cosmetic changes to allow fresh seed sales. Anyway, the standards for VCU are geared towards very standard uses indeed: simplistic, intensive agriculture. Growers who want lots of straw, for example, perhaps because they also have animals and use the straw for bedding, are not considered at all. Same, obviously, for thatching.

Once again, what this shows is that there is a monolithic attitude within regulatory forces, especially in Europe, that essentially says “There is only One True Way”. The rest of agriculture can go hang.