tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/cereal-grains-3460/articlesCereal grains – The Conversation2022-03-24T16:41:23Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1795192022-03-24T16:41:23Z2022-03-24T16:41:23ZA food crisis was brewing even before the Ukraine war – but taking these three steps could help the most vulnerable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453858/original/file-20220323-21-1i0jo47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C0%2C4013%2C3017&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Queues for milk in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where shortages were evident months before the Ukraine crisis.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to the disruption, by sanctions or war, of two of the world’s largest grain exporters. This means 2022 is shaping up to be a very difficult year for the global food system.</p>
<p>Yet there were concerns that this system was creaking at the seams as far back as 2007. At that time there were <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1574-0862.2008.00345.x">steeply rising food prices</a> driven by rising oil prices, explosive demand for corn-based biofuels, high shipping costs, financial market speculation, low grain reserves, severe weather disruptions in some major grain producers, and a swathe of nervy trade policies leading to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306919210001065">further shocks that worsened the problem</a>. </p>
<p>The World Food Program’s director general described it as a <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/burkina-faso/wfp-chief-calls-support-combat-perfect-storm-over-africas-rural-poor">“perfect storm”</a> Prices spiked again in 2011-12 before gradually receding.</p>
<p>In retrospect, those storms might now appear temperate in comparison to that we face in 2022. Even before the current crisis unfolded, <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/blog/how-will-russias-invasion-ukraine-affect-global-food-security">food</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-how-the-global-fertiliser-shortage-is-going-to-affect-food-179061">fertiliser</a>, oil and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-crisis-in-container-ships-could-ruin-christmas-166297">shipping costs</a> were rising steeply. </p>
<p>The FAO cereal price index showed prices hit their 2008 level in 2021, and since the invasion they have exploded. Between 2019 and March 2022, cereal prices increased by 48%, fuel prices by 86% and fertiliser prices by 35%.</p>
<p>Here are three factors that we think make the situation in 2022 much worse, and three measures that could help prevent a global food supply system collapse.</p>
<h2>The poor are still recovering from the COVID-19 crisis</h2>
<p>Back in early 2008, both the developed and the developing world had just experienced an unprecedented period of rapid economic growth and poverty reduction, in some cases after decades of stagnation. The global financial crisis of 2007-08 only briefly halted growth in the developing world. Many governments and international institutions recognised the need to re-invest in agriculture, and found resources to do so.</p>
<p>But fast-forward to 2022, and the world has not yet recovered from the tailwinds of the COVID-19 pandemic, the worst economic crisis since the second world war. There are no truly rigorous estimates of COVID’s impact on global poverty, but the World Bank has estimated that 2020 saw an extra <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/updated-estimates-impact-covid-19-global-poverty-turning-corner-pandemic-2021">97 million people thrown into poverty</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454222/original/file-20220324-17-1bi60dt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing previous price spikes of fuel, fertiliser and food." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454222/original/file-20220324-17-1bi60dt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454222/original/file-20220324-17-1bi60dt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454222/original/file-20220324-17-1bi60dt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454222/original/file-20220324-17-1bi60dt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454222/original/file-20220324-17-1bi60dt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454222/original/file-20220324-17-1bi60dt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454222/original/file-20220324-17-1bi60dt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Food, fuel and fertiliser prices versus GDP growth in low- and middle-income countries, 2000-2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">FAO/IMF/World Bank</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Household surveys and economic models consistently find that the pandemic had the <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/publication/impacts-covid-19-global-poverty-food-security-and-diets">most severe economic impact on the urban poor</a>, while agriculture and the rural economy remained remarkably resilient to lockdowns and other demand shocks. Higher food prices may even have had a <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/25701">poverty-reducing effect</a> in rural areas. But the urban poor lose out and, after two years of turmoil, are being hit hard again, now by food price inflation.</p>
<h2>Cash-strapped governments have little room to manoeuvre</h2>
<p>Both developed and developing economies are weaker today than in 2008. To their credit, governments in the developing world provided <a href="https://socialprotection.org/discover/publications/social-protection-and-jobs-responses-covid-19-real-time-review-country">unprecedented protection for households and businesses</a> and <a href="https://blogs.adb.org/blog/your-service-indonesia-s-government-agencies-look-digital-innovations-amid-covid-19">digital innovations for reaching the poor</a> during the pandemic. </p>
<p>But as a result, many economies face large debt burdens relative to national income, as well as growing deficits, weak exchange rates, uncertain near-term economic growth prospects, and foreign investors and development partners that are also short of cash. </p>
<p>Africa is undoubtedly one of the most vulnerable regions. North Africa is a huge net importer of wheat, most of which comes from Russia and Ukraine, so it faces a <a href="https://theconversation.com/russia-ukraine-crisis-poses-a-serious-threat-to-egypt-the-worlds-largest-wheat-importer-179242">particularly acute food crisis</a>. Sub-Saharan Africa is predominantly rural, but its growing urban populations are relatively poor and more likely to consume imported grains. </p>
<p>Farmers in many parts of Africa are <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/farms-are-failing-as-fertilizer-prices-drive-up-cost-of-food-11642770182">struggling to access fertilisers</a>, even at inflated prices, due to shipping and foreign exchange problems. Exorbitantly high costs will erode farmers’ profits and could reduce incentives to increase production, dampening the poverty-reduction benefits of higher food prices. </p>
<p>Countries already affected by conflict and climate change are exceptionally vulnerable. War-ravaged Yemen is heavily dependent on imported grains. Northern Ethiopia is one of the poorest regions on Earth, facing ongoing conflict and a humanitarian crisis. And Madagascar was slammed by successive tropical storms and cyclones in January and February, leaving its food system broken. </p>
<p>In Afghanistan, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/afghanistan-faces-return-to-highest-maternal-mortality-rates-/6474248.html">child mortality rates are soaring</a> due to the collapse of the economy and basic health services. Myanmar’s GDP shrunk by 18% after the military coup in February 2021, and food prices <a href="https://myanmar.ifpri.info/2021/10/14/monitoring-the-agri-food-system-in-myanmar-food-vendors-july-2021/">have since increased by 19%</a>. </p>
<h2>A crisis with no end yet in sight</h2>
<p>The 2007-08 food crisis was relatively short lived, and the global food system responded swiftly with increased supply. But who can say with any confidence whether the effects of the Ukraine crisis on food, fuel and fertiliser prices will end any time soon? </p>
<p>Russia and Ukraine account for <a href="https://www.fao.org/director-general/news/news-article/en/c/1476480/">more than 30% of global grain exports</a>, Russia alone provides <a href="https://wits.worldbank.org/trade/comtrade/en/country/ALL/year/2018/tradeflow/Exports/partner/WLD/product/310210">13% of global fertiliser</a> and <a href="https://www.fao.org/director-general/news/news-article/en/c/1476480">11% of oil exports</a>, and Ukraine supplies <a href="https://www.fao.org/director-general/news/news-article/en/c/1476480">half of the world’s sunflower oil</a>. In combination, this is huge a supply shock to the global food system, and a protracted war in Ukraine and the growing isolation of Russia’s economy could keep food, fuel and fertiliser prices high for years.</p>
<h2>Three things that can be done</h2>
<p>What can be done to buffer the worst impacts of this crisis?</p>
<p>First, major grain producers must do everything they can to increase food supply: resolve logistical bottlenecks, release stocks and resist the urge to impose food export restrictions. In particular <a href="https://asean.org/about-asean/member-states/">south-east Asian countries</a> must band together and avoid avoid the crisis spreading to rice markets through trade restrictions.</p>
<p>Second, in the short term the world needs oil-producing nations – often huge net importers of food – to increase fuel supplies to help bring down fuel, fertiliser and shipping costs. This will benefit the entire global food system. Oil exporters can also step in to increase foreign assistance, especially for humanitarian aid. But in the long term we need to reduce global dependence on fossil fuels, including in agriculture.</p>
<p>Third, governments, international institutions and even the private sector must offer social protection via food or financial aid. The pandemic’s effects hit the poor and vulnerable hard, and for much longer than expected. </p>
<p>Despite their sometimes dire fiscal circumstances, governments must again reach deep into their treasuries to reinvigorate this protection – and the international community must help them. There is simply no other alternative for averting a humanitarian disaster that will hit the developing world hard this year, and conceivably well in to years to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179519/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Food, fuel and fertiliser prices were rising fast even before war broke out. We need to act now to avoid a humanitarian crisis.Derek Headey, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Kalle Hirvonen, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); Research Fellow, World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), United Nations UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1567862021-03-15T14:15:09Z2021-03-15T14:15:09ZGlobal malnutrition: why cereal grains could provide an answer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389530/original/file-20210315-21-ajek7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=37%2C0%2C4955%2C3330&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In many parts of the world, staple grains are a critical part of diets.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hands-farmer-close-holding-handful-wheat-488899324">Frolova_Elena/ Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Low-carb diets have become increasingly popular in the UK, US, and Europe in recent years, with no shortage of information being spread online about the harms of carbohydrates for your health. Indeed, some carbs do worsen some digestive disorders in some people, and eating too many definitely can contribute to <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(19)30370-5/fulltext">poorer health and obesity</a> – including <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/365/bmj.l2289">diseases</a> such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. </p>
<p>But for billions of people around the world, staple cereal grains like wheat, maize, barley and rice provide the most accessible form of energy, critical to staving off hunger. These cereals have been major foodstuffs for millennia. And for much of the world’s population, they make up <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2017.08.006">over 50% of people’s diets</a>. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-013-0263-y">Wheat alone</a> contributes 18% of the total dietary calories and 19% of proteins globally. </p>
<p>Yet not all cereals or cereal products are created equal. By changing the way cereals are produced, processed and consumed, it’s possible to harness their benefits to improve diets around the world. These changes could even tackle the problem of micronutrient deficiency (also known as hidden hunger). This affects <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/Y8346M/y8346m02.htm">two billion people</a>, and is caused by lack of quality, not quantity, in their diets. Not having enough essential vitamins and minerals can cause ill-health. It <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/2046905514Y.0000000158">can also</a> stunt the growth and intellectual development of children, and of subsequent generations.</p>
<h2>Wholegrains</h2>
<p>In wholegrain form, <a href="https://europepmc.org/article/pmc/pmc7231599">cereals provide</a> important protein, fat, vitamins and minerals, as well as dietary fibre and energy. Unfortunately, milling, manufacturing and sometimes also storage of foods derived from cereals removes nutrients and reduces the nutritional quality. </p>
<p>And through so-called ultra-processing, other substances such as sugar, sodium and saturated fats are <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31099480/">often added</a> that can be damaging to health. Such foods are made using a series of processes, are energy-dense, high in unhealthy ingredients, and poor sources of protein, dietary fibre and micronutrients. They are made to be attractive and marketed to consumers in such a way as to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28322183/">promote overconsumption</a>.</p>
<p>Wholegrains are also rich in essential dietary fibre, which is known to improve health and well-being thanks to probiotic properties and by boosting the immune system. They also contain so-called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2020.101976">bioactives</a>, including carotenoids, flavonoids and polyphenols, which <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28317483/">studies</a> have shown these have antioxidant, anticarcinogenic and anti-inflammatory properties. Most of the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/445503/SACN_Carbohydrates_and_Health.pdf">beneficial effects</a> of eating wholegrain foods on diseases (such as diabetes, heart disease, and most cancers) are attributed to these bioactives. </p>
<p>A key advantage of cereals – and a reason why they’re staple foods in so many regions - is that they can be widely grown. The fact that they can also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2018.03.007">survive in</a> the hotter and wetter conditions because caused by climate change is another advantage. This alone makes them accessible and affordable to vulnerable populations. For example, in 2017 maize crops covered almost <a href="http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC">200 million hectares</a> worldwide. Wheat covered almost 220 million hectares, an area greater than France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK combined.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A harvester combine pours harvested wheat into a truck." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389531/original/file-20210315-21-1yozx0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389531/original/file-20210315-21-1yozx0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389531/original/file-20210315-21-1yozx0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389531/original/file-20210315-21-1yozx0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389531/original/file-20210315-21-1yozx0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389531/original/file-20210315-21-1yozx0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389531/original/file-20210315-21-1yozx0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Cereal grains, like wheat, are already widely grown aroud the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/drone-shot-behind-harvester-support-truck-1218184309">Powerhouse Productions/ Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Enriching cereals</h2>
<p>Enriching new cereal varieties with additional vitamins and minerals provides a <a href="https://www.harvestplus.org/sites/default/files/HarvestPlus-FAO%20brief.pdf">wide-scale opportunity</a> to improve nutrition without needing to change diets drastically. Scientists are already doing this, and since the 1990s have released more than <a href="https://www.cimmyt.org/news/biofortified-maize-and-wheat-can-improve-diets-and-health-new-study-shows/">60 varieties</a> of maize and wheat with enhanced levels of zinc or vitamin A in developing regions – including south Asia, southern Africa and Latin America.</p>
<p>This has allowed families whose diets are heavily dependent on wheat or maize to improve their nutrition. It has reduced the risk of vitamin A deficiency, which causes as many as <a href="https://www.who.int/data/nutrition/nlis/info/vitamin-a-deficiency">500,000 children</a> to lose their sight every year. It has also prevented zinc deficiency, which can impair immune function. Biofortified cereals and other crops have been released in more than 30 countries and are being <a href="https://www.harvestplus.org/sites/default/files/HarvestPlus-FAO%20brief.pdf">tested and grown</a> in more than 40 countries.</p>
<p>Beyond fortifying such staple crops through conventional breeding, grain can be further improved through innovations in genomics. For example, mapping the sequence of plant genes allows researchers to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-0134-6?proof=t">modify the nutrient content</a> of wheat in order to improve the quality. This technique can also be applied to other crops including rice, millet and sorghum. Another important strategy is enriching cereal foods through industrial fortification, where essential micronutrients are added to milled flour.</p>
<p>Food manufacturers and millers can also transform the quality of cereals by improving processing and maintaining more of the original nutrient content of grains. At the same time commercial firms and researchers need to find ways to maintain the cooking, eating and storage qualities of cereal-based foods to retain the micronutrients.</p>
<p>It’s up to scientists, the agri-food sector and policymakers together to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344651390_Being_realistic_about_the_contribution_of_private_businesses_to_public_nutrition_objectives">produce and promote</a> healthier cereal foods that are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2020.101976">more nutritious</a>. Ultimately it’s important for people to realise that choosing wholegrain foods as part of a diverse diet can ensure you’re eating more nutritious carbohydrates.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156786/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nigel Poole worked for a year as a Visiting Fellow with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico.</span></em></p>Wholegrains provide us with important protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals.Nigel Poole, Professor, International Development, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1539162021-02-02T14:54:38Z2021-02-02T14:54:38ZHigher quality seeds can help beat Africa’s ‘hunger pandemic’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381456/original/file-20210130-13-v76ry0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/ugandan-people-sowing-seeds-as-part-of-a-sustainability-news-photo/661831536?adppopup=true">Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Vaccination efforts across the globe <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/now-there-is-real-hope-to-end-covid-19-with-vaccines-who-chief/articleshow/79384318.cms">encourage hope</a> of an imminent end to the COVID-19 health crisis. But the food security crisis that the pandemic has <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/WFP-0000121038.pdf">deepened</a> cannot be alleviated quickly and will require lasting solutions. </p>
<p>Well-adapted and nutrient dense crops like millet, sorghum, groundnut, chickpea, pigeonpea, cowpea and common bean, collectively called dryland cereals and legumes, are like a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pbr.12554">vaccine of sorts</a> for hunger and under-nutrition. This is because, over time, improved varieties of crops will be able to render farming resilient to climate stresses, help improve nutritional outcomes and improve soil health. In the short run, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14390523/2019/138/4">they boost</a> yields, ensure food sufficiency in farm households and increase earnings. </p>
<p>Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, seed systems, which determine seed access in a country or a region, were beset with challenges. In a <a href="https://techniumscience.com/index.php/technium/article/view/1074">recently published paper</a> we identify what the bottlenecks are and what can be done about them. </p>
<p>The biggest issues we identified include, firstly, the limited access to varieties of groundnut, chickpea, pigeonpea, sorghum and finger millet that are bred to perform where they are needed. They need to be suited to changes in temperature and rainfall in the area and the stress of pests and diseases. They must also be nutrient-dense and there must be a market for them. The problem of access to these varieties is partly due to limited interest in the private seed sector to include grain legumes and dryland cereal crops in their portfolio. </p>
<p>The second issue is the limited capacity of the institutions involved in the production and delivery of early generation and certified seed production. </p>
<p>Thirdly, there are large gaps in the flow of information, which means that farmers have limited awareness of crops best suited for their environment and the merits of new varieties.</p>
<p>The pandemic further hit these systems, warranting emergency responses from governments and relief agencies. To ensure quality seed flow in the long run, <a href="https://techniumscience.com/index.php/technium/article/view/1074">several interventions have been identified</a>. </p>
<h2>Beyond relief</h2>
<p>One useful intervention would be to organise farming communities – or seed producer groups – into business entities. This would offer several benefits. Primarily, it would help boost local access by people who currently can’t get or afford certified seed. </p>
<p>High quality seed access will mean better quality grain production and meeting the standards set by grain buyers. This, in turn, would enhance grain demand and encourage farmers and other seed enterprises to produce and use quality seed.</p>
<p>Another problem that needs to be addressed is quality control. Farmers in Africa often procure seed from informal markets, which doesn’t allow for robust quality checks. In a sample of 2,592 smallholder farmers in six countries, 92% of sorghum seed, 84% of millet seed, 93% of groundnut seed, 93% of common bean seed and 88% of cowpea seed were <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-015-0528-8">reported</a> to be from informal sources. </p>
<p>These seeds are likely to be suboptimal. They are more likely to be of subpar genetic purity, unknown variety and hence performance and they may have a huge seed-borne disease burden. </p>
<p>Another challenge is how information is shared, and what language is used. For example, a <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2020.00029/full">study</a> in Uganda found that farmers were interested in and willing to pay for high quality seed. But the term “certified seed” didn’t strike a chord with them. The research concluded that simpler language, such as “super seed”, would be better. </p>
<p>A major hurdle is getting seed companies to participate in developing the new varieties. This could be through using structures like the <a href="https://www.icrisat.org/a-seed-revolving-fund-is-driving-malawis-groundnut-revival/">Seed Revolving Funds</a>. These involve an initial start-up fund to get groups of seed producing farmers to produce foundation seed from breeder seeds sourced from research institutes that are later multiplied into certified seed for sale to the larger farming community. </p>
<p>The sale of proceeds of foundation seed supports the scheme by covering infrastructure costs and packaging. </p>
<p>The fund has had success <a href="https://www.icrisat.org/malawi-seed-revolving-fund-model-wins-accolades/">in Malawi</a> and is being piloted in Tanzania. </p>
<p>Through the <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-981-15-8014-7">work</a> of <a href="https://www.icrisat.org/">International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics</a> and partners in Africa, there’s evidence that local seed production can benefit immensely from communities setting up and managing seed banks with support and technical backup from agriculture research organisations. Seed banks are local stocks of seeds managed by a community of farmers who have been trained in seed production, harvest and post-harvest management. They may also involve a <a href="https://www.icrisat.org/making-seed-available-for-improved-adoption-of-climate-smart-crops/#:%7E:text=Community%20Seed%20Banks%20are%20forms,more%20choices%20at%20affordable%20prices">private sector collaboration</a>.</p>
<p>An example of how crop researchers can help is by calculating for farmers how much seed they’d need per unit of land for maximum yields and growth efficiency. This planting data is essential for smallholder farmers in particular.</p>
<p>These measures have already been <a href="https://techniumscience.com/index.php/technium/article/view/1074">tried</a> in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. This has led to a 30% increase in the adoption of improved varieties. </p>
<p>Finally, digital tools such as <a href="http://seedsystems.icrisat.org/">digital seed catalogue</a> and <a href="https://www.icrisat.org/tag/digital-seed-roadmap/">road map</a> applications like <a href="https://seedx.icrisat.org/#/login">SeedX</a> and social media have to be added. They are increasingly popular and available. </p>
<h2>An unprecedented opportunity</h2>
<p>We believe the fallout from COVID-19 has presented an opportunity that should be exploited. This is because some people have taken <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2020-05-26-car-boot-market-thrives-during-pandemic/">refuge in agriculture</a> after losing their jobs to the pandemic. </p>
<p>Newcomers from formal employment sectors are more likely to be willing to take professional planting advice, adopt improved varieties and use high quality seeds. This is an opportunity to intervene on behalf of nutrition. </p>
<p>Increasing the likelihood of good harvests and good returns in the near future will ensure African farms can sustain and help reverse rural-urban migration. More hands will mean increased food supply to meet the demands of a growing population and an opportunity to make diets nutritious. </p>
<p>For governments, policymakers, research institutions and others wanting to intervene in African food systems to help fulfil this long but connected chain of objectives, the time is now.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153916/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris O. Ojiewo receives funding from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and United States Agency for International Development.
</span></em></p>Improved seeds can alleviate a food security crisis deepened by COVID-19.Chris O. Ojiewo, Theme Leader, Seed Systems at ICRISAT, CGIAR System OrganizationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1233872019-09-12T16:11:52Z2019-09-12T16:11:52ZProcessing changes the food we eat – here’s what that means for our bodies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291943/original/file-20190911-190012-1v6nzi3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">file exn s</span> </figcaption></figure><p>To understand how healthy a food is, we generally look at its components – carbohydrates, fats and proteins, or the vitamins, minerals and other substances it may contain. But this purely “nutritional” vision overlooks one property that’s a key part of a food’s health potential – its structure.</p>
<p>For example, serving a child a breakfast cereal made up of whole wheat or rice may seem like a good idea, but research shows that processing can significantly impact its nutritive qualities. Extrusion-cooking or puffing can transform wheat and rice into primarily a source of sugars that the child’s body rapidly absorbs, and many of the nutritive values of the original grains are lost.</p>
<h2>The “matrix” of a food</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.anthonyfardet.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Pratiques-en-Nutrition-2017.pdf">Too long ignored by nutritionists</a>, the concept of a food’s structural matrix is crucial to correctly assess its health potential, especially at a time when ultra-processed products have flooded supermarket shelves.</p>
<p>The term <em>matrix</em> (from the Latin “mater” meaning <em>mother</em>) refers to an element that “provides support or structure, and serves to surround, reproduce or construct”. In the case of food, it is a kind of three-dimensional structure. Within this matrix, the elements that compose a food interact with each other, conferring particular properties.</p>
<p>Take an almond: it is hard, brown and fibrous. If an almond is ground, its matrix changes: it’s now in the form of powder. But if the composition of ground almonds is theoretically identical to that of whole ones, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ijfs.13192">their effects in the body are not the same</a>. In particular, the nutrients are digested differently, altering the body’s physiological and metabolic responses.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.anthonyfardet.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Pratiques-en-Nutrition-2017.pdf">matrix effect of food</a> implies that “two foods of identical composition but with different structures do not have the same effects on health”. Put differently, for the body, a calorie of food A is not the same as a calorie of food B. What is crucial is the matrix environment of the calorie, the structure within which it is contained. In short, all calories are not interchangeable.</p>
<h2>The parts and the whole</h2>
<p>The “matrix” effect is not just about whole foods, but also about food ingredients, and even the nutrients themselves.</p>
<p>Take food carbohydrates (also known as starches): if you <a href="https://sciencing.com/hydrolyze-starch-heat-hydrochloric-acid-7789965.html">hydrolyse them</a> to create a glucose syrup and then a glucose-fructose syrup, the composition – or at least the calorie content – remains the same. Fructose has the same composition as glucose, but a different structure. However, the effects on the human body are no longer the same, because the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article-abstract/62/4/871S/4651178?redirectedFrom=fulltext">glycemic indexes</a> – the intensity with which a food boosts blood-sugar levels – differ. Moreover, despite a low glycemic index, excessive consumption of fructose has been associated with <a href="https://www.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpendo.00283.2010?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org">fatty liver disease</a> or <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/nonalcoholic-fatty-liver-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20354567">non-alcoholic fatty liver disease</a>.</p>
<p>Consequently, understanding the “matrix” effect of foods, ingredients and nutrients is essential to correctly assessing their effects on human health.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292023/original/file-20190911-190016-21jxlw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292023/original/file-20190911-190016-21jxlw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292023/original/file-20190911-190016-21jxlw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292023/original/file-20190911-190016-21jxlw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292023/original/file-20190911-190016-21jxlw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292023/original/file-20190911-190016-21jxlw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292023/original/file-20190911-190016-21jxlw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The structure of a cooked white bean under a microscope. Visible are the gelatinized starch grains (blue-violet), the protein aggregates (blue) and the fibrous walls (orange), which limit the digestion of starch by α-amylases, making sugars ‘slow’ and satiating.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">INRA Library</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Three physiological effects</h2>
<p>Because of the range of impacts they can have, the matrix of foods play a fundamental role in our diet:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Our sense of <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/satiety">satiety</a>. The form of a food – hard, soft, friable, liquid and more – affects how much we must chew, and the more we do, the higher our sense of satisfaction and fullness.</p></li>
<li><p>The rate of release of nutrients in the digestive tract, and therefore their availability and subsequent use by the body.</p></li>
<li><p>How quickly food moves through the digestive tract.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>If we again take the example of almonds, whole ones have a solid matrix and must be chewed, making them <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nbu.12221">more satisfying</a>. Compared to ground almonds, solid ones also <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308814615005452">release less fat in the blood</a> and do so <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/101/1/25/4564309">more slowly</a>. All three effects are essential mechanisms for long-term health.</p>
<p>Similar differences exist for <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/71495">whole apples (solid matrix), apple sauces (semi-solid matrix) and apple juice (liquid matrix)</a>, and this holds true for all foods. Consequently, we should always favour a food in its solid form if it is regularly consumed.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292026/original/file-20190911-190012-oiyq40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292026/original/file-20190911-190012-oiyq40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292026/original/file-20190911-190012-oiyq40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292026/original/file-20190911-190012-oiyq40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292026/original/file-20190911-190012-oiyq40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292026/original/file-20190911-190012-oiyq40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292026/original/file-20190911-190012-oiyq40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292026/original/file-20190911-190012-oiyq40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The health potential of foods: calories are not interchangeable from the original food (left) to one that has been transformed (right).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>From processing to ultra-processing</h2>
<p>Modification of a food’s matrix is sometimes desirable because it makes it more digestible. However, transformations that completely disrupt its matrix to isolate its ingredients and then <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/ultraprocessed-foods-what-they-are-and-how-to-identify-them/E6D744D714B1FF09D5BCA3E74D53A185">recombine them in artificial matrices</a> can pose health problems.</p>
<p>One of the main characteristics of many <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/365/bmj.l2289">ultra-processed foods</a> is not only the loss of the “matrix” effect by cracking/fractionation, but also by extraction, purification, hydrolysis or chemical modifications. Such foods are both “hyper-palatable” (which leads to overconsumption), yet they’re crumbly, soft, viscous or liquid and are thus <a href="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2018/FO/C7FO01423F#!divAbstract">little chewed</a> (and therefore don’t satiate us). These two qualities are the essence of “junk food”, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html">addictive yet empty of almost everything but calories</a>.</p>
<p>The example of dietary fibre is also interesting. Industrial food companies often add fibre to products that have been over-refined. However, fibres naturally present in food matrices are associated with <a href="https://www.livescience.com/52541-phytonutrients.html">phytonutrients</a>, including antioxidants. By passing through the blood, these molecules potentially protect against the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL). Known as “bad cholesterol”, these oxidized LDLs can form <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/atherosclerotic-plaque">atheromatous plaques</a> in blood vessels, a cardiovascular risk factor. The antioxidants associated with the natural food fibres also help fight free radicals produced by colonic bacteria. With added dietary fibre, however, these positive effects are lost.</p>
<h2>Public health recommendations</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/2_background/en/">explosion of chronic disease in the world</a> may be due more to the loss of the “matrix” effect of food than to its composition. Indeed, research indicates that the degradation or artificial modification of a food’s original matrix is one of the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31105044">key drivers of excess calorie intake</a>. The overconsumption of saturated fats, salt, sugars and additives is simply a symptom of this modification.</p>
<p>Based on the scientific evidence, it is essential that nutritional recommendations begin to take into account the “matrix” effect of foods. For researchers, this opens up a whole range of scientific exploration in the field of processes and formulations. </p>
<p>For us as consumers, solutions are often within arm’s reach: when given the choice between whole, complex natural foods and ultra-processed products derived from them, go for the ones that are closest to their natural state.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123387/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>To understand how healthy a food is, we often look at fats and proteins, vitamins and minerals. But this approach overlooks one property that’s a key part of a food’s health potential – its structure.Anthony Fardet, Chargé de recherche, UMR 1019 - Unité de Nutrition humaine, Université de Clermont-Auvergne, InraeEdmond Rock, Directeur de recherche, InraeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/83012012-07-26T04:31:53Z2012-07-26T04:31:53ZSplendour in the grass: new approaches to cereal production<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13308/original/ygmxg3kf-1343078049.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It would be smarter to use perennial native grasses for cereal grains instead of relying on a handful of farming-intensive annual crops. Shown here is Curly Mitchell grass (Astrebla lappacea), common in northern Australia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Chivers</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Any investment manager will tell an investor to spread risks, to have a diverse portfolio, to engage with many sectors of the local economy, to invest in other parts of the globe, to hedge your bets, a mix of shares, real estate and cash – we have all heard this advice. And for the most part we agree with it and do our best to abide by it. Yet we do not take the same approach to our own sustenance. Unlike the savvy investor, humans have an unparalleled reliance upon just a few forms of cereal grains. This is of concern given that grains provide the bulk of nutrition to almost all of the world’s billions of people.</p>
<h2>Seeing the limits of the current system</h2>
<p>Before exploring where new value might lie, it is important to understand where the threat to value lies in the current system. Now in most parts of the world we mostly rely on only eight or so species of plants for grains. Given their pervasive nature they are easy to name quickly: wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, oats, barley, rye, and millet. There are a few others that are consumed in smaller quantities, but overall we have a very heavy reliance on this small number of species. Our investment adviser would be telling us that this is too narrow a portfolio and that we should be broadening it to spread risks.</p>
<p>The other notable fact about this short list is that most, if not all, are annual plants. These plants do not persist for more than one season, for the most part remove rather than add carbon to the soil and, as they die each year, they leave the soils free of living green matter. This lack of living matter means that they are unable to absorb rainfall if it falls at that time.</p>
<p>Altogether there are too many eggs in the one basket of annual cereals as the principal source of foods for the world’s billions. These plants require significant investment in terms of time and money. It starts with annual resowing, with all the risks of failure and high costs involved. Repeated cultivation has been shown to remove soil organic matter and so reduce the ability of the soil to host beneficial microflora, to absorb water, to be soft underfoot (remember soft soils? They are a thing of the past in much of Australia), to retain nutrients and to smell and feel good. Anyone digging up soil on dedicated cereal cropping farms in most parts of Australia will, apart from deciding that they need a crow bar to get into the soil, notice the absence of worms and that lack of strong earthy smell. Surely this is not a system that offers the long term benefits that come from healthy soil.</p>
<p>Production of these crops not only strips the soil of essential nutrients that must be replaced or else production will fall, but it also requires the use of selective herbicides to remove weeds. Many of those same weeds are now developing resistance to those chemicals. This implies a need to either use higher doses of the same chemical or change to another chemical and start all over again. In short, total reliance upon annual crops is a one-way street to oblivion. It is a system that can produce grain, but does so at the expense of the soil and of the environment.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13307/original/hhk4cwpj-1343078020.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13307/original/hhk4cwpj-1343078020.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13307/original/hhk4cwpj-1343078020.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13307/original/hhk4cwpj-1343078020.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13307/original/hhk4cwpj-1343078020.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13307/original/hhk4cwpj-1343078020.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13307/original/hhk4cwpj-1343078020.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Business as usual may not be the best way: wheat crop in Dalby, Queensland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/RaeAllen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Risky business</h2>
<p>Significant risks are found at many stages throughout the growth of the crop. At sowing time inadequate rainfall can reduce stand density and may indeed dictate a repeat sowing. During the growth stage again inadequate rainfall might not allow sufficient plant growth to stimulate reproductive stem formation. Finally at harvest time too much rainfall, ironically, can ruin the crop.</p>
<p>It is also a system reliant upon petroleum for fuel to sow, harvest and manage, for fertilizers to promote growth, for herbicides to control weeds and for insecticides to reduce pests. In a world where crude oil will never be cheap again, and along with that other inputs such as fertilizers, growers of annual crops are continually seeing their costs of production increasing. Perhaps breaking the link between expensive oil and grain production should be at the forefront of 21st century practice?</p>
<h2>Seeing new options through history’s lens</h2>
<p>What we need to do is to look around at other systems and see if they can be used. In Australia we have stunning examples of very long-term grain-food production that had no degrading impact on the environment, that did not require expensive fertilizers or pesticides, and grew without the need for irrigation water to be diverted from river systems. These long term cereal production systems were a feature of Aboriginal-Australian farming systems for thousands of years.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13309/original/8wwddrt6-1343078133.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13309/original/8wwddrt6-1343078133.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13309/original/8wwddrt6-1343078133.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13309/original/8wwddrt6-1343078133.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13309/original/8wwddrt6-1343078133.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13309/original/8wwddrt6-1343078133.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13309/original/8wwddrt6-1343078133.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sorghum leiocladum: a long lived perennial sorghum relative found in the eastern half of Australia, in all states except Tasmania.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Chivers</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is not well known that Australian Aborigines used our perennial grasses as grain sources each year for food, usually in the form of a damper, and had well-established methods of production. The region where this was best known was called the Panara by early European anthropologists and extended in a large swathe from the Flinders Range through western New South Wales, north through central and western Queensland, straight through the Northern Territory into the Kimberley and then south into the northern wheat production areas of Western Australia. In the shape of a donut with a bite removed covering the Great Australian Bight, this area covered more than one quarter of the total landmass of Australia. In this huge area Aboriginal Australians kept themselves fed with grains from our perennial grasses and supplemented that basic diet with other bush foods.</p>
<p>The existence of this managed grain production system was novel to the early European explorers, like Sir Thomas Mitchell, who wrote: “In the neighbourhood of our camp the grass had been pulled to a very great extent, and piled in hay-ricks … extending for miles … (that) had evidently been thus laid up by the natives, but for what purpose we could not imagine”. It took later botanists and anthropologists to determine that the Aborigines had been using these ricks (windrows) to ripen the seed, which was then collected, cleaned, stored, and used to make a bread-like damper.</p>
<p>So why do we not look to use the same sort of system for grain production now? Maybe Australian cereal breeders should become more aware of Australian native grasses and the existence of the Panara. Sure, we are not in a shifting hunter-gatherer society any longer, and I am not suggesting we revert to those practices. Rather, I am suggesting that we look at the species that were used by those clever societies and see if they can be adapted to form part of a new production methodology that is more sympathetic with the realities of Australia, and indeed the globe, in the 21st Century.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13306/original/ymyzcgxs-1343078005.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13306/original/ymyzcgxs-1343078005.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13306/original/ymyzcgxs-1343078005.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13306/original/ymyzcgxs-1343078005.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13306/original/ymyzcgxs-1343078005.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13306/original/ymyzcgxs-1343078005.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13306/original/ymyzcgxs-1343078005.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Flinders Ranges in South Australia, where Aborigines used native grasses for cereal grain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/kabl1992</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A new production system using perennial grasses</h2>
<p>We need to be looking at perennial grasses for our new grain types, not annuals. As it happens, Australia has many suitable grain-production candidates amongst its perennial grasses. It is not the purpose of this essay to discuss the merits of each of the candidates, rather to encourage people to think more broadly about their choice of species and then to look closely at some of the Australian native options and opportunities.</p>
<p>But what would a new production system look like? There are many different models and they will vary from region to region, but I suspect they will have several consistent features. They will be perennial, they will match the rainfall zone and be permanent and persistent pastures in each zone, they will be palatable to domestic stock, they will be harvestable for grain using conventional equipment, and they will have grains that are easy to thresh.</p>
<p>Can you imagine a permanent pasture that also produces a grain crop in those years when the rainfall amount and timing permits? It would also be the pasture that is able to survive the drought that will inevitably occur without the need to resow once the drought breaks. In another area with another grass pasture and crop, it will be the permanent pasture that grows vigorously under the trees, that produces a grain crop at the end of the wet season but still does not compete for moisture during the dry months. It would be a new world of true dual-purpose crops – where farmers have the options to simply graze a paddock or alternatively to graze it for a shorter period and then to let it run up a grain crop. This is a perennial grain-cropping system as it was used in the long-time past but which is still there for the discovery if we are wise enough to look.</p>
<h2>Time to think, time to act</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13310/original/yk7k6n89-1343078207.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13310/original/yk7k6n89-1343078207.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13310/original/yk7k6n89-1343078207.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13310/original/yk7k6n89-1343078207.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13310/original/yk7k6n89-1343078207.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13310/original/yk7k6n89-1343078207.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13310/original/yk7k6n89-1343078207.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Channel millet (Echinochloa turneriana): a native of the Channel country across parts of Queensland, NSW, and SA.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Chivers</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is a low-risk, low-cost system that is sadly not known to most plant breeders. What is horribly clear however is that continuing to invest in breeding of the existing cereal species looking for a variety that might be slightly more drought tolerant means continuing to favour a system that degrades our soils and environment. Is it not time to rethink? Why not be active and systematically collect potential crop plants from around Australia? Why not go to marginal environments and find those native grasses that grow there already to see if they can be adopted for use in modern farming? Why not broaden the thinking of the plant breeders and give them opportunities to be creative in their species selection? It would be to the good of us all.</p>
<p><em>Comments welcome below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/8301/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Chivers owns shares in Native Seeds Pty.Ltd. He has received funding from RIRDC, ARC and Flora Foundation of Australia. </span></em></p>Any investment manager will tell an investor to spread risks, to have a diverse portfolio, to engage with many sectors of the local economy, to invest in other parts of the globe, to hedge your bets, a…Ian Chivers, Adjunct Fellow, Southern Cross UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.