7 ms·

If I was a wheat farmer, I'd sign up for sure to try this.

mousa 9y ago
>more irregular in size than wheat berries Wheat is one of those plants that humans have mastered. One person can farm thousands of acres of wheat. Generally that's only true of plants that are very uniform and that you wipe out each harvest. It would be very hard to replace it with a plant you can't use the same techniques on as the labor would be 100x probably.
- escape_goat 9y ago
  We're on the cusp of an era with an embarrassment of labour, however. This sort of crop might not be useful yet, but heterogeny is going to be a theme when gains to date in informatics and robotics begin to be reflected in mature agricultural technologies.
- randomdata 9y ago
  Kernza is harvested (and planted) with the same equipment that wheat is. Some irregularity isn't going to matter.
  - yxhuvud 9y ago
    As the seeds are much smaller, this may or may not be the case. The article mentions mills not being able to handle the size, but it could also affect other things.
    - randomdata 9y ago
      The seeds are huge compared to, say, quinoa, which is also harvested using a regular old combine. My comment wasn't hypothetical. That is how it is harvested already.
    - woodandsteel 9y ago
      Breeding is increasing the size of the grains.
randomdata 9y ago
Being a wheat farmer, the lack of a local supply chain would keep me from considering it. Growing it is one thing, but if you don't have anyone to sell the end product to, it is all for not.
- russnewcomer 9y ago
  This is one reason why I think they need to push the home-growing aspect more. If they can get people introduced to the taste and concept, and it becomes some trendy thing like quinoa, the market for farmers explodes.
  - iak8god 9y ago
    I don't know if that's actually viable. I've grown all kinds of veggies, but it'd never occur to me to grow grain. It takes a lot of space, for one thing, but also is difficult to harvest and process on a small scale (i.e. by hand).
    - russnewcomer 9y ago
      Absolutely, it's not easy to process. But if it can be easy to grow like a decorative grass, space is less of an issue as it can be like a decorative grass. And my point is not that Americans will ever grow something like Kernza en masse, but if enough trendsetters do it, there's a greater market for farmers to sell to.
      - iak8god 9y ago
        I'd be willing give it a try. But if used in typical decorative grass fashion (small clusters as border accents) it should generate about enough flour to make a muffin or dinner roll every year or so. Is backyard production of quinoa driving its popularity?
        russnewcomer 9y ago
        Probably not on quinoa, I have no idea. But something like Kernza needs a jumpstart to market, and if it is easy to grow in the backyard or in a community plot, that could be a jumpstart.

>more irregular in size than wheat berries Wheat is one of those plants that humans have mastered. One person can farm thousands of acres of wheat. Generally that's only true of plants that are very uniform and that you wipe out each harvest. It would be very hard to replace it with a plant you can't use the same techniques on as the labor would be 100x probably.

escape_goat 9y ago
We're on the cusp of an era with an embarrassment of labour, however. This sort of crop might not be useful yet, but heterogeny is going to be a theme when gains to date in informatics and robotics begin to be reflected in mature agricultural technologies.
randomdata 9y ago
Kernza is harvested (and planted) with the same equipment that wheat is. Some irregularity isn't going to matter.
- yxhuvud 9y ago
  As the seeds are much smaller, this may or may not be the case. The article mentions mills not being able to handle the size, but it could also affect other things.
  - randomdata 9y ago
    The seeds are huge compared to, say, quinoa, which is also harvested using a regular old combine. My comment wasn't hypothetical. That is how it is harvested already.
  - woodandsteel 9y ago
    Breeding is increasing the size of the grains.

randomdata 9y ago

Being a wheat farmer, the lack of a local supply chain would keep me from considering it. Growing it is one thing, but if you don't have anyone to sell the end product to, it is all for not.

russnewcomer 9y ago
This is one reason why I think they need to push the home-growing aspect more. If they can get people introduced to the taste and concept, and it becomes some trendy thing like quinoa, the market for farmers explodes.
- iak8god 9y ago
  I don't know if that's actually viable. I've grown all kinds of veggies, but it'd never occur to me to grow grain. It takes a lot of space, for one thing, but also is difficult to harvest and process on a small scale (i.e. by hand).
  - russnewcomer 9y ago
    Absolutely, it's not easy to process. But if it can be easy to grow like a decorative grass, space is less of an issue as it can be like a decorative grass. And my point is not that Americans will ever grow something like Kernza en masse, but if enough trendsetters do it, there's a greater market for farmers to sell to.
    - iak8god 9y ago
      I'd be willing give it a try. But if used in typical decorative grass fashion (small clusters as border accents) it should generate about enough flour to make a muffin or dinner roll every year or so. Is backyard production of quinoa driving its popularity?
      - russnewcomer 9y ago
        Probably not on quinoa, I have no idea. But something like Kernza needs a jumpstart to market, and if it is easy to grow in the backyard or in a community plot, that could be a jumpstart.