Could Science Build a Better Grain?

Staple grains, like wheat and rice, can wear out the soil — and most have to be replanted from seed each year. Learn how researchers are seeking to create new varieties (like Kernza) to save the environment in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey
brain Stuff Lauren Vogle bomb here. The ever increasing need
to feed Earth's growing population, and that not always cautious
ways that we grow our food are some of the
factors that have put our planet's environment in peril. Farming

(00:22):
accounts for nearly a quarter of human emissions that are
warming the atmosphere, and as much as half of that
comes from plowing the soil to grow crops such as wheat, corn,
and soybeans, which releases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide,
of the latter a byproduct of fertilizer use. But researchers
have been working on ways to reduce the harmful environmental

(00:43):
effects of agriculture. One potentially promising innovation is a grain
that goes by the trademarked name kurnza. Unlike familiar grains,
it can be made into flour for use in bread, breakfast, cereal,
and other foods, and also as an ingredient in products
ranging from beer to ice cream. But unlike many other grains,
kerenza is a perennial plant, a meaning that once it's planted,

(01:06):
it'll keep coming back up year after year. It doesn't
have to be replanted from scratch each year, so it
cuts down on labor. In addition, Kearnza has a deep
root system. It reaches over ten feet or three meters
into the soil and may help to sequester or capture
atmospheric carbon. That root system could also make it more
resistant to the impact of drought related to climate change

(01:28):
in some areas. Krenza was developed by the Land Institute,
a Salina, Kansas based organization founded in nineteen seventy six.
The co founder, West Jackson recognized that a big problem
of modern agriculture was that it was wearing out the
soil by focusing upon monoculture growing a single crop in
a certain area. As that practice intensified on modern farms,

(01:50):
its destructive downsides became more and more evident in the
form of erosion and worn out soil that required increasing
amounts of fertilizer, creating increasingly polluted groundwater. Jackson saw the
development of perennial grains to replace annual ones as a
vital part of the solution to those problems. The Land
Institute's website explains, given that grains make up over of

(02:12):
our global caloric consumption and over for our global crop lands.
Transitioning from an extractive annual model to a perennial model
is the best chance we have to create a truly
regenerative food future. But developing new food crops is a
difficult and time intensive challenge. Back in scientists at the
Rowdale Institute, another research organization, identified a plant called intermediate

(02:36):
wheat grass, a species related to wheat, as a promising
candidate that might be developed into a perennial grain. They
worked with researchers from the United States Department of Agriculture
to breed the plant and improve its fertility and seed size.
In two thousand three, the Land Institute began working with
intermediate wheat grass as well. After years of breeding the plant,

(02:56):
they developed currents of the registered trade name for their variety.
In some ways, the process of developing a new crop
hasn't changed much since prehistoric times. Basically, it involves breeding
generation after generation of a plant, taking the best from
each new batch, and breeding them together in an effort
to promote whatever desirable characteristics you're seeking. However, plant breeders

(03:18):
these days have some tools that the ancients lacked. The
Land Institute employed a process called molecular breeding, in which
they use genetic analysis to determine the traits that the
plant should have even before it grows to full size,
in order to spot plants but the most potential for breeding.
We spoke with Rachel Stroher, the Institute's chief strategy officer.
She explained it's taken US ten thousand years and an

(03:41):
intensified two hundred years of modern breeding to get the
crops we have today. It's taken twenty to get curnza
to where it is. It might take another twenty to
get it to competing at a scale with the annuals.
But in the effort to turn curnza into a commercially
viable crop, there's a lot of work ahead. Stroller says
that research ars are now working to increase the size

(04:02):
and number of seeds produced by each plant, and to
increase the height of the plants. One drawback of curnza
is the unlike conventional wheat, it doesn't yet lend itself
to free threshing, in which the edible grain is easily
loosened from the plant. It instead requires another step called
de hulling, to remove the skin of the seed before
it can be turned into flour. That's because the stems

(04:23):
remain green after the plant matures, Conventional wheat withers and
is thus more easily separated. In addition to breeding currenza
to make it suitable for free threshing in the future,
scientists are working to make the yield produced by real
working farms match what they've been able to achieve on
their research plots. To that end, they're gathering data from
the farmers to help figure out how to time the harvest,

(04:45):
what settings would be optimal for combines, and other factors
that might make the fields more productive. Researchers are also
working with bakers, chefs, brewers, and distillers to develop products
that utilize curtainsa to help create a future market for it.
One product already on the market is long Route pale Ale,
whose maker Patagonia provisions cites currents as environmental positives in

(05:08):
its marketing, and last year General Mills Cascadian Farms brand
produced a limited edition honeytoasted Currents of Cereal, which it's
sold to raise funds for the researchers. We also spoke
via email with Steve Coleman, an assistant professor in the
School of Environment and Natural Resources and Ohio State University,
and the co author of a twenty eighteen Bioscience article

(05:29):
on Curnza cultivation methods. He said, I've been working with
Curnza for ten years, and it's been a fun adventure.
I think one of the things that I've really come
to appreciate is that successfully domesticating and developing a new
crop requires more work than anyone can really appreciate. It's
a major collaborative effort that really does require many people
working together, scientists of many disciplines, food chain actors, and

(05:52):
a consumer market that's ready for and wants it. It's
pretty daunting task, but also what makes it so much
fun to be a part of it. The Land Institute's
Currents of program is just one part of a larger
effort to develop perennial crops that could someday replace annual ones.
Also in the works are perennial wheat, sorghum lagoons, and
oil seed, and the Institute has helped launch and fund

(06:14):
program in China to develop a perennial version of rice.
Today's episode was written by Patrick Jake Tiger and produced
by Loll Berlante and Tyler Clang. For more on this
and lots of other topics with deep roots, visit how
stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio.
For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart

(06:36):
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
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