The future of ancient grains

Einkorn, emmer and spelt fed large swathes of the world’s population for thousands of years but disappeared almost completely during the rise of industrial farming and the green revolution. Could these ancient grains provide an opportunity to tap into current demand for high-quality, healthy food?

In an opinion published in Trends in Plant Science, two plant breeders argue that the current environment presents an opportunity to reintroduce ancient wheat varieties and other plant species by creating ‘farm to fork’ supply chains that satisfy consumer demand, provide niche markets for small farmers, millers and bakers, and increase agricultural biodiversity.

Friedrich Longin and Tobias Würschum, both from the University of Hohenheim in Germany, say that consumer preferences in the US and Europe, driven more by a desire for novel products and healthy ingredients than a demand for low prices, create markets that ancient wheat species can fill.

The wheat flour in breads and baked goods comes almost exclusively from bread wheat, just one of the three species, 20 subspecies and thousands of varieties of wheat cultivated and consumed across the globe for thousands of years. The development of industrial agriculture in the mid-20th century focused on developing cultivars that produce a high yield and have short stalks which are less likely to collapse in the field, exposing the grains to pests and mould. Other varieties ceased to be commercially viable and, as they fell out of favour, traditional dishes and regional food diversity also began to disappear.

Many of these varieties still exist in gene banks all over the world and scientists view them as an important source of genetic diversity. Longin and Würschum say a holistic approach that looks at both agronomic properties like disease tolerance and yield potential, as well as nutritional and taste profiles, is needed to select the best candidates to reintroduce to the market.

In their research, they screened hundreds of varieties of einkorn and emmer and tested the 15 best candidates at four different locations in Germany. The results showed the importance of looking at these plants holistically.

“When you look at einkorn, it is really fantastic-looking in the field, but when you get the agronomic performance, it is low yielding and it falls down in the rain. But then we found there were so many healthy ingredients, and you taste and even see it in the end product,” said Longin.

They point to the sizeable and growing market for spelt products as an example of how ancient grains can be successfully reintroduced in modern markets. Spelt, the main cereal crop in Southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland until the early 20th century, nearly disappeared. By the 1970s, when its rediscovery started, only a few millers and bakers were still familiar with traditional spelt recipes such as Swabian seelen, a baguette-like pastry. Today, more than 100,000 ha of spelt are grown annually in and around Germany, with an annual turnover of €1 billion across Europe and an annual growth rate of more than 5%.

Longin and Würschum say that to successfully reintroduce other ancient grain varieties, interdisciplinary cooperation all along the supply chain, from plant breeding to nutritional analysis to marketing, is needed. They believe the end results can create a self-financing strategy for providing high-quality foods and preserving ancient species.