High in the mountains of India’s Spiti Valley, the same Trans-Himalayan landscape where snow leopards roam, communities have been farming the same crops for thousands of years. The two traditional staples are barley and a little-known local variety called black pea, known in Tibetan as sanmoh nako or dhoopchum. These crops have sustained mountain communities for generations, but they are quietly disappearing.
The shift happened relatively quickly. Starting in the 1980s when green peas were introduced as a cash crop, market forces gradually pulled farmers away from the subsistence crops their communities had grown for millennia. Over the following decades, traditional farming was increasingly replaced by market-driven agriculture. Today, the ancient practice of growing multiple varieties of barley is nearly extinct, and black peas, grown in this region for an estimated 3,000 years, are at risk of vanishing entirely.
A team of researchers set out to understand what would actually be lost if these crops disappeared. Their findings, published in the journal Science Advances and recognized by the Ecological Society of America with a prestigious Sustainability Science Award for their contribution to ecosystem and social science research, are striking on three fronts.
The traditional crops outperform the cash crop. Field experiments conducted with local farmers across multiple elevations showed that black peas consistently outperformed green peas in survival rates, growth rates, flowering, and pod production. In other words, the crop that communities have been moving away from is actually better suited to the harsh, high-altitude environment than the one replacing it.
Black peas are genetically unique. The researchers generated the first-ever whole-genome sequencing data for black peas, the first time anyone had mapped their DNA. The results showed that black peas are genetically distinct from other known pea varieties, forming their own cluster more closely related to traditional Indian and Central Asian landraces than to commercially grown peas. This makes them a potentially valuable genetic resource for future crop development, particularly as climate change puts pressure on food systems worldwide.
Black peas are highly nutritious. Lab analysis revealed that black peas are rich in protein, dietary fiber, iron, magnesium, calcium, and several vitamins, making them not only ecologically resilient but nutritionally valuable, especially for vegetarian and vegan diets.
The paper’s implications extend beyond Spiti Valley. The Trans-Himalayan region is warming faster than the global average, putting both wildlife habitat and agricultural systems under increasing stress. The researchers argue that traditional crops like black peas, precisely because they have adapted to thousands of years of harsh mountain conditions, may offer important tools for building more climate-resilient food systems. They also note that the genetic diversity found in black peas could potentially be used to improve the resilience of other crops through cross-breeding.
For these reasons, the researchers argue that Spiti Valley’s traditional farming systems deserve formal recognition and protection, not just as cultural heritage, but as a practical resource for navigating an uncertain climate future.
The mountains where these ancient crops grow are the same mountains where snow leopards hunt, and the communities tending these fields are the same ones Snow Leopard Trust works alongside every day on coexistence and climate resilience. Their futures and the snow leopard’s are deeply intertwined.
View the full paper and acknowledgments here
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Photo credits: Akshata Anand and H.J., Princeton University