WEBVTT - Could Science Build a Better Grain? 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.840 Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey 0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:11.959 brain Stuff Lauren Vogle bomb here. The ever increasing need 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:16.120 to feed Earth's growing population, and that not always cautious 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:18.520 ways that we grow our food are some of the 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.520 factors that have put our planet's environment in peril. Farming 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:25.360 accounts for nearly a quarter of human emissions that are 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:28.240 warming the atmosphere, and as much as half of that 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:31.880 comes from plowing the soil to grow crops such as wheat, corn, 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:36.120 and soybeans, which releases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:40.080 of the latter a byproduct of fertilizer use. But researchers 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:43.080 have been working on ways to reduce the harmful environmental 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:47.400 effects of agriculture. One potentially promising innovation is a grain 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:51.760 that goes by the trademarked name kurnza. Unlike familiar grains, 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:54.960 it can be made into flour for use in bread, breakfast, cereal, 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.040 and other foods, and also as an ingredient in products 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:02.200 ranging from beer to ice cream. But unlike many other grains, 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:06.280 kerenza is a perennial plant, a meaning that once it's planted, 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:09.679 it'll keep coming back up year after year. It doesn't 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:12.120 have to be replanted from scratch each year, so it 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:15.720 cuts down on labor. In addition, Kearnza has a deep 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:19.000 root system. It reaches over ten feet or three meters 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.000 into the soil and may help to sequester or capture 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:25.479 atmospheric carbon. That root system could also make it more 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:28.319 resistant to the impact of drought related to climate change 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:32.440 in some areas. Krenza was developed by the Land Institute, 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:36.400 a Salina, Kansas based organization founded in nineteen seventy six. 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:39.960 The co founder, West Jackson recognized that a big problem 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:42.360 of modern agriculture was that it was wearing out the 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:46.760 soil by focusing upon monoculture growing a single crop in 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:50.640 a certain area. As that practice intensified on modern farms, 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:54.040 its destructive downsides became more and more evident in the 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:57.160 form of erosion and worn out soil that required increasing 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:02.280 amounts of fertilizer, creating increasingly polluted groundwater. Jackson saw the 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:05.200 development of perennial grains to replace annual ones as a 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:08.480 vital part of the solution to those problems. The Land 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:12.920 Institute's website explains, given that grains make up over of 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:17.040 our global caloric consumption and over for our global crop lands. 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:20.440 Transitioning from an extractive annual model to a perennial model 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:23.200 is the best chance we have to create a truly 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:27.520 regenerative food future. But developing new food crops is a 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:32.040 difficult and time intensive challenge. Back in scientists at the 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:36.280 Rowdale Institute, another research organization, identified a plant called intermediate 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:39.760 wheat grass, a species related to wheat, as a promising 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:43.240 candidate that might be developed into a perennial grain. They 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:46.280 worked with researchers from the United States Department of Agriculture 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:49.600 to breed the plant and improve its fertility and seed size. 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:53.120 In two thousand three, the Land Institute began working with 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:56.560 intermediate wheat grass as well. After years of breeding the plant, 0:02:56.600 --> 0:02:59.840 they developed currents of the registered trade name for their variety. 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:03.200 In some ways, the process of developing a new crop 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:07.640 hasn't changed much since prehistoric times. Basically, it involves breeding 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:11.359 generation after generation of a plant, taking the best from 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:13.959 each new batch, and breeding them together in an effort 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:18.600 to promote whatever desirable characteristics you're seeking. However, plant breeders 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:21.880 these days have some tools that the ancients lacked. The 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:25.720 Land Institute employed a process called molecular breeding, in which 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:28.320 they use genetic analysis to determine the traits that the 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:31.000 plant should have even before it grows to full size, 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:34.040 in order to spot plants but the most potential for breeding. 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:38.040 We spoke with Rachel Stroher, the Institute's chief strategy officer. 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:41.400 She explained it's taken US ten thousand years and an 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:44.520 intensified two hundred years of modern breeding to get the 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:47.600 crops we have today. It's taken twenty to get curnza 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:49.920 to where it is. It might take another twenty to 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:52.360 get it to competing at a scale with the annuals. 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:55.880 But in the effort to turn curnza into a commercially 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:59.440 viable crop, there's a lot of work ahead. Stroller says 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:02.200 that research ars are now working to increase the size 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.000 and number of seeds produced by each plant, and to 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:08.640 increase the height of the plants. One drawback of curnza 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.040 is the unlike conventional wheat, it doesn't yet lend itself 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:15.120 to free threshing, in which the edible grain is easily 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:18.400 loosened from the plant. It instead requires another step called 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:20.880 de hulling, to remove the skin of the seed before 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:23.800 it can be turned into flour. That's because the stems 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:27.960 remain green after the plant matures, Conventional wheat withers and 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:31.440 is thus more easily separated. In addition to breeding currenza 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:33.680 to make it suitable for free threshing in the future, 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:37.120 scientists are working to make the yield produced by real 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:39.719 working farms match what they've been able to achieve on 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:42.840 their research plots. To that end, they're gathering data from 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:45.600 the farmers to help figure out how to time the harvest, 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:49.360 what settings would be optimal for combines, and other factors 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:53.440 that might make the fields more productive. Researchers are also 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:57.279 working with bakers, chefs, brewers, and distillers to develop products 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:00.440 that utilize curtainsa to help create a future market for it. 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:03.920 One product already on the market is long Route pale Ale, 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:08.359 whose maker Patagonia provisions cites currents as environmental positives in 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:12.520 its marketing, and last year General Mills Cascadian Farms brand 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:16.280 produced a limited edition honeytoasted Currents of Cereal, which it's 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:20.000 sold to raise funds for the researchers. We also spoke 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:22.960 via email with Steve Coleman, an assistant professor in the 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.240 School of Environment and Natural Resources and Ohio State University, 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:28.919 and the co author of a twenty eighteen Bioscience article 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:32.320 on Curnza cultivation methods. He said, I've been working with 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:34.880 Curnza for ten years, and it's been a fun adventure. 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:37.040 I think one of the things that I've really come 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:40.640 to appreciate is that successfully domesticating and developing a new 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:44.760 crop requires more work than anyone can really appreciate. It's 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:48.440 a major collaborative effort that really does require many people 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:52.560 working together, scientists of many disciplines, food chain actors, and 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:55.760 a consumer market that's ready for and wants it. It's 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:58.440 pretty daunting task, but also what makes it so much 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:01.159 fun to be a part of it. The Land Institute's 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:03.480 Currents of program is just one part of a larger 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:07.039 effort to develop perennial crops that could someday replace annual ones. 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:11.040 Also in the works are perennial wheat, sorghum lagoons, and 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:14.360 oil seed, and the Institute has helped launch and fund 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:17.359 program in China to develop a perennial version of rice. 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:25.480 Today's episode was written by Patrick Jake Tiger and produced 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:28.160 by Loll Berlante and Tyler Clang. For more on this 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:30.400 and lots of other topics with deep roots, visit how 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:33.679 stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio. 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:35.960 For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:38.599 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:39.320 favorite shows.