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The grass family contains over 9,000 species distributed throughout the world. Of that, 35 have been cultivated as cereals. Of these, the following are importan
by orionion 4y ago
The grass family contains over 9,000 species distributed throughout the world. Of that, 35 have been cultivated as cereals. Of these, the following are important today: Barley, Corn, Goat grass, Millet, Oats, Rice, Sorghum, and Wheat.
Of the important grains and/or cereals listed above, only corn (maize) is a New World native. Corn is an important member of the grass family.
Corn (Zea mays) was domesticated from a wild plant called teosinte (Zea mexicana) about 7000 years ago. This species was considered sacred and was central to Mayan creation myths. Famous Mayan images show an earth god sprouting from the corn stalk.
Corn is the most efficient of the modern cereal grains in converting water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates. Maize formed the basis for the Mayan, Aztec, and Inca civilizations in the New World.
Corn, beans, and squash were planted together by early native Americans in companion planting to benefit all three species.
There is no wild plant or evidence of one that resembles corn with giant husked ears; besides the ears, teosinte and corn look very similar.
Columbus took corn to Europe on the first voyage but it did not gain wide attention.
Native Americans had over 100 uses for the corn plant and its fruits.
https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/ethnobotany/food/grains.shtml https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/ethnobotany/food/grains.sh...
- bell-cot 4y agoAny reason not to have rye on your "important today" list?
- ncmncm 4y agoOfficial US agricultural policy and habitual farming practice have made growing maize together with beans and/or squash, tomatoes, and peppers nearly impossible to do competitively. That could be fixed with policy changes that would be fought by the biggest agribusinesses. Corn is among the most efficient natural converters of sunlight into chemical energy useful to the plant (with some left over for the farmer), but photovoltaics beat it by up to 10x. Capturing CO2 and producing glucose, starch, ethanol, and kerosene by an organic chemical process could be much more productive, by any measure, than via corn, which must anyway also grow stalk and leaves. The power could come from solar panels sharing fields with vegetable crops (e.g. tomatoes and peppers) that benefit from the shade they would provide by multiplying yield, and with wind turbines which take up very little ground footprint. Combining solar, wind, farming, and chemical processes yields much better results than keeping them separate.
- danielheath 4y agoGlobal PV cell production is about 1 million square meters per annum. Global farmland is about 45 million square kilometers, approx 1e10 more. Lets say the solar panels cover 10% of the field. That 10% produces 10x as much, so you've approximately doubled your fields overall productivity. We're currently a factor of 1e9 short of producing enough to do so (and it's not like PV cells are not currently produced at scale). 1e9 is an unfathomably large delta. We'd be converting most of the planet into PV factories & mines to supply them.
- mattashii 4y agoThe actual delta is indeed huge, but there were some mistakes in your calculation that result in an answer that is off by some orders of magnitude. Assuming your initial numbers are correct, the approx 1e10 should be 1e7 (rounding down from 4.5e7), as 1 million sqm equals 1 sqkm (this is different from 1 kilo square meter; see cube square law etc.) You also do not take into account that solar panels have an expected lifetime of over 20 years - your current calculation seems to want a panel produced every year for every field. Taking these into account brings the production defecit factor down to ~ 1e5, which is still unfathomably huge but at least marginally more achievable than the 1e9 answer you got.
- pg314 4y agoThe initial number of 1 square kilometer of PV panels produced per year doesn't pass the sniff test. An average home installation is already 10 square meters, and a lot more than 100,000 installations are added in a year. The global production of solar panels was 180 GW in 2020. Assuming around 200 W per square meter, you get 1 billion square meters of solar panels. So their initial number is off by a factor of 1000.
- ncmncm 4y agoHome installations are usually at several times 10 square meters, or more. 50 is common, 100 seen.
- 4y ago
- jacobsievers 4y ago>Of the important grains and/or cereals listed above... I'm not sure what you meant to communicate with "and/or", but "and" would probably have sufficed.
- rogerclark 4y agoMinor writing nitpicks are worse than useless. The parent comment provided actual information that someone might want to know.
- burntoutfire 4y ago> Of these, the following are important today: Barley, Corn, Goat grass, Millet, Oats, Rice, Sorghum, and Wheat. What about Rye?
- distances 4y agoIndeed, at least personally rye is the second or third most consumed cereal for me (after wheat, and maybe after barley through beer). But looks like it's only 9th within the most cultivated cereals, which was a bit surprising for me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cereal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cereal
- konart 4y ago>Of these, the following are important today: Barley, Corn, Goat grass, Millet, Oats, Rice, Sorghum, and Wheat. What about Buckwheat
- jessaustin 4y agoBuckwheat isn't a cereal or even a grass.
- konart 4y agoTIL: "Buckwheat is related to sorrel, knotweed, and rhubarb, and is known as a pseudocereal because its seeds' culinary use is the same as cereals, owing to their composition of complex carbohydrates." - wiki Still though, the question is not so much about classification but about importance as a food\resource.
- woke_neoliberal 4y agoOne issue with corn is that it is planted in rows, and leads to soil erosion. Soil is difficult to replace!