我们为什么需要超越玉米，小麦和大米

什么是你吃了最后一粒？很凑巧的是它是小麦，玉米或大米，谷物黑社会直接贡献超过人类全球所消耗的卡路里都一半。在早期，人类所认识的食物，比较容易处理，产量高（因此高卡路里），口感好。每个粮食走了很远从它的起源长期农业产业化之前。已经熟悉的大多数人来说，和现代的做法帮助下，黑社会是在完美的位置主宰现代粮食市场。但今天不断变化的世界与它围绕这些主导谷物问题带来的。

“多样性是人类肠道不好，”辛西娅哈里曼与非营利性的食物和营养战略总监Whole Grains Council，即教育有关五谷杂粮，其中包括罕见的人的健康有益的公共宣传组。而且它是土地也好，她补充道，指着现代“与单一文化的问题，”such as vulnerability虫害，疾病和恶劣天气。

当我们面对世界上有一个气候变化和不可预知的天气模式，集中粮食作物组合可能是一个危险的事情。多样化的粮食系统与常见的谷物也可能是朝向弹性很好的一步，但让人们欢迎新的东西到他们的饮食是一个艰巨的任务，而我国目前的食品体系是面向对他们 - 他们是罕见的，未知的，怀才不遇。

优势和障碍

许多常见的谷物来与环境效益。甲谷物如画眉草，例如，是强壮，更耐旱和比小麦更有营养。它可以在水胁迫和淹水条件（取决于栽培品种）上生长。类似地，从环境的角度来看小米优选稻，这在很大程度上取决于水。在亚洲，水稻种植面积的20％为易旱。小米，几个谷子品种之一，是自然界中唯一的谷物，可以产生颗粒，具有4英寸或年降雨量少。和许多不常见的谷物可以在更短的肥沃土壤中生长比小麦，玉米和大米需要。

Dipak Santra, assistant professor in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, emphasizes Harriman’s point that diversity of grain is most important — for both the environment and nutrition. “A more diverse grain portfolio out in the fields is better for the environment because pest management is better when diverse crops are planted,” he said. Currently millet has few major disease problems and teff is relatively free of plant diseases compared with other grains.

尽管有这些优点，也有以将这些不常见的谷物，以大众市场的许多障碍。

总部位于芝加哥的Kantha Shelke，食品科学家和顾问为食品技术研究所, said that for mainstream food companies to be interested in alternative grains, they must have consistent access to large quantities of a crop. Even then, to invest in an uncommon grain such as millet, quinoa (a pseudo-grain) or teff as a food ingredient takes capital for new processing equipment — another factor that can inhibit the rise of uncommon grains. For example, North America lacks large facilities that wash saponin from quinoa before it can be used. Saponin is a bitter substance, an evolutionary adaptation to predation, and food companies want quinoa with the saponin removed.

“久经考验的王牌新的和不确定的，” Shelke说。

政府补贴，也倾向于在那些罕见建立谷物。印度政府补贴大米和小麦，最多可为最低收入家庭成本的86％，而最近才包括小米。在美国，1995年至2012年，联邦政府的农业补贴总额近300十亿$，与玉米排名第一，第二的小麦和大米第七环境工作组的前20名资助的作物名单。

由于口味大多了解到，在一代人很容易为农业政策和做法，以巩固与特定谷物消费的关系。生产者依靠高产量，显然是在寻找谋生，所以未尝试过的，不熟悉的作物是可怕的。而且，因为大多数常见的农作物甚至缺乏一个小市场，农民是鲁莽的种植他们。除此之外，消费者可以对怀有某些食物的偏见。如今，例如，小米用于在北美鸟食，而在20世纪80年代画眉草面临饥荒埃塞俄比亚相关的耻辱。

那么，如何才能让市场对作物没有一个增长？

It takes a village

培育新的谷物市场就像抚养孩子很多 - 它需要一个村庄做是正确的。对于新的食品蓬勃发展，它需要公众教育，金融安全，基础设施和成长的机会。

Wayne Carlson has done possibly more than anyone else in North America to bring teff to the marketplace. A biologist, Carlson was working in Ethiopia during the 1970s when a series of events hit the country — an influx of development aid, revolution and famine, the latter of which defined the East African country for years after. But what Carlson learned working in remote traditional farming communities led him to believe in the value of the country’s indigenous agriculture practices, and especially the value of teff. “I got to observe the local economy, the local farmers, and I started to appreciate the role of teff in their society,” he said. “I just thought there was a lot of value to the crop and it served them well for thousands of years.”

Seeing the value, especially after realizing the opportunities for improved pest management teff provided, he wanted to bring the grain to global consumers. But to survive outside remote Ethiopian communities, Carlson knew teff had to develop a cash value.

但卡尔森在那些日子里带来画眉草市场的努力是困难的。“人们认为这是在第一个笑话，”他说。“他们知道埃塞俄比亚唯一的办法就是，每个人都在挨饿，这是完全宽的什么真正发生的标志。他们认为不断增长的埃塞俄比亚食物是愚蠢的，所以这是一个早期的障碍。”

在20世纪80年代开始，通过他于爱达荷州的公司，该公司效应T卡尔森慢慢奠定了画眉草的经济基础。这意味着发展的种子，与农民合作，寻找一个市场 - 所有在同一时间。这也意味着避免炒作，从而破坏作物，卡尔森说。“People jump in, then they don’t know what to do with it, they dump it, and that destroys the market,” he said, pointing to Jerusalem artichoke as an innovative crop (ideal for alcohol production for fuel, which, on the heels of the oil crisis in the 1970s made it attractive) destroyed by hype —传销— in the 1980s. The scheme ruined farmers who had a crop and nowhere to sell it. (Today, quinoa also could face a hype crisis, with U.S. farmers clamoring to grow a popular food that lacks a large-scale domestic infrastructure).

Following the upheaval of the 1970s, thousands of Ethiopians immigrated to North America. Carlson rightly assumed they were the teff market — a small one, but one that valued and missed their traditional grain. Aunt Jemima pancake mix had been used to try to recreate injera, their traditional bread, but it proved to be a poor substitute.

卡尔森的努力取得了成功;他创造了一个画眉草业那里是没有了。尽管仍然比较小，市场越来越大，在土耳其，和欧洲的努力下卡尔森的领先地位。“我们花了30多年的推广画眉草，这是相当可喜的，因为它的工作，”卡尔森说，承认它是发生在正确的时间努力：政治动荡迫使人们超越国界，创造了曝光的机会。“有很多意外发现的。我认为有涉及一定量的运气和艺术的。”

Farmers count on scientists

科学家们不断地与小麦，玉米和大米拨弄。他们思考的产量和疾病，和他们的基因组测序。在蒙特利尔的麦吉尔大学，瓦莱丽Orsat，生物资源工程系主任，工程用替代谷物。她的实验室实验用的品种与农民，开发的食谱为消费者和已经创建了一个简单，机械化在印度小米去脱壳工具。但Orsat的实验室是异常值的一个;罕见粒往往不是从科学界得到冷遇 - 在资金方面，因此研究 - 因为市场太小。然而，农民科学家领导与新品种试验的方式算他们愿意种植他们在各自的领域之前。

“有一个很大的差距的资金，这是肯定的，”凯文·墨菲，在普尔曼，华盛顿华盛顿州立大学的替代作物研究员说，“这是一个鸡和蛋的事。”

我研究经费小麦等作物s abundant. In Washington state, for example, the Washington Grain Commission helps fund wheat research through a 0.75 percent assessment on each bushel at the first point of sale, which equals roughly $5.7 million per year. Meanwhile, Murphy writes a lot of grant applications to find funds for buckwheat, hull-less barley, millet, amaranth and quinoa.

Santra agrees that there is a huge funding disparity, saying the difference is likely a thousandfold or more. Tracking down specific data is difficult because there’s not an assessment put on uncommon grains such as the one put on wheat in Washington. But, to give some idea of the disparity, between 1988 and 2014, the可持续农业研究和教育计划农业美国能源部的资金中向小米有关的项目给出了$一万七千七百零三。

It can take about 10 years to breed a grain variety for a specific environment. For quinoa, Murphy built on seed research that began about 35 years ago by growers who, like Carlson, started their own companies: Wild Garden Seed in Oregon and White Mountain Farm in Colorado. Quinoa could be ideal for farmers in the relatively cool Pacific Northwest. Murphy’s research has led to successful field trials in 2013, and this year he launched more trials in Washington, Oregon and Utah, planting quinoa on plots from half an acre to two acres, typically testing 35 varieties at each location. He expects to commercialize his seeds next year.

“If we can grow food domestically, it can influence consumer eating habits,” Murphy said. Availability, after all, is an important part of the battle to bring uncommon grain to the market.

Tricky business

除了科学，营销是另一种方式，使罕见谷物到更广泛的消费群。全谷物理事会促进全谷类，包括罕见的，经过缓慢，稳定的教育。该组织支持的全年粮食抽样日四月的第一个星期三每年，超市，学校，餐厅，食品的卡车和面包店扇出为消费者提供新的东西味道。它有一个websitethat features a grain of the month, recipes and other information.

“The whole food system needs an overhaul if we want to prioritize healthy food,” Harriman said.

虽然不常见谷物是一个增长型企业，这是一个触摸和去一个，因为一切都恰到好处，如果这些颗粒是推动任何有意义的方式多样化世界的粮食经济。眼下，美食家都在鼓吹画眉草作为下一个超级食品。但埃塞俄比亚政府已禁止出口画眉草，以避免价格大幅上涨拒之门外当地消费者。此外，在埃塞俄比亚画眉草的是multivaried股票，微调了几千年的农民和粮食之间的反馈。一个家人可能农场15个以上品种的蓬勃发展在特定的地形，依靠多样化，以保持储藏室满。因为这样的因素，桥接生活的市场和商业市场之间的差距是非常棘手。不过，即使有可能是艰难的道路前进，在这个世界上，一个气候变化与它带来的不可预知的天气，越来越有特点，如市场抗旱抗病替代颗粒可以是向弹性的重要一步。

这个故事最初出现在Ensia并授权转载。最佳photo of corn, wheat and rice通过圆nadyatess通过存在Shutterstock。