Saving Heirloom Animal Breeds

I've posted a number of times about how over time different types of food disappear. Older, maybe tastier, varieties fall out of favor with producers to be replaced by fruits and vegetables that ship and store better.

Places like The Seed Savers Exchange deal mostly in hard to find and heirloom vegetables in an effort to preserve some of these varieties. There are also a number of seed banks which save seeds to prevent against a disaster or disease which might wipe out an important food type.

The New York Times had an article today about a group that is saving farm animal embryos with cryogenics of breeds that have since fallen out of favor and are no longer being heavily raised any more. These animals, like the previously mentioned vegetables, may actually be tastier or better for the environment, but have some element to them which does not make them consistently homogeneous to raise and market.