WEBVTT - Is Quinoa Unhealthy For Its Producers?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Lauren Bogle o bamb here. Quinoa has caused quite

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of confusion during its short tenure on the

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<v Speaker 1>worldwide scene. Raised four thousands of years in the Andean

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<v Speaker 1>Mountain region of South America, it's only really blown up

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<v Speaker 1>worldwide over the past decade. The United Nations Food and

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<v Speaker 1>Agricultural Organization declared the International Year of Quinoa, giving the

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<v Speaker 1>crop a big boost on the world stage. The declaration

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<v Speaker 1>was intended as a way to highlight crops that were

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<v Speaker 1>unknown and forgotten, at least to the wider world, as

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<v Speaker 1>a way of promoting food security. But along with quinua's

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<v Speaker 1>rapid ascent to the top of the health food chain

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<v Speaker 1>came news reports that local populations in Peru and Bolivia

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<v Speaker 1>could no longer afford to buy it, as the prices

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<v Speaker 1>had doubled or tripled. But before we get into that,

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<v Speaker 1>some basics. Quinoa spelled q u I n o A

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<v Speaker 1>in case you've seen the word but never heard it pronounced.

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<v Speaker 1>Cooks like rice, looks sort of like couscous, and pack

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<v Speaker 1>a serious nutritive punch. It's high in protein, contains all

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<v Speaker 1>the essential amino acids and is high in iron and fiber.

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<v Speaker 1>It's eaten like a grain, but it's really more like

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<v Speaker 1>a seed or a vegetable, and it's also gluten free.

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<v Speaker 1>In short, it checks a lot of boxes for folks

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<v Speaker 1>looking to eat fewer animal products or fewer carbs, but

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<v Speaker 1>is its mainstream popularity hurting the people who grow it.

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<v Speaker 1>Researchers have called through year's worth of data two thousand

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<v Speaker 1>four from a national Peruvian survey to find out how

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<v Speaker 1>the seemingly worldwide kinwa frenzy affected the quality of local

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<v Speaker 1>citizens lives over that period. The air circumstances actually seem

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<v Speaker 1>to have improved. We spoke via email with one of

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<v Speaker 1>those researchers, Mark F. Bellamare, an associate professor of applied

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<v Speaker 1>economics and director of the Center for International Food and

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<v Speaker 1>Agricultural Policy at the University of Minnesota. He said, in

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<v Speaker 1>most cases, we find that rising kinwa prices have modestly

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<v Speaker 1>increased the welfare of both kinwa producers and kinwa consumer

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<v Speaker 1>in Peru. At worst, we find a small decline in

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<v Speaker 1>welfare in some regions, but that decline is almost nil

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<v Speaker 1>at less than one percent of total welfare. Welfare here

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<v Speaker 1>is defined as the value of a household's consumption expenditures.

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<v Speaker 1>Bell Amare explained, since consumption tends to be a function

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<v Speaker 1>of income, consumption is a good proxy for income, but

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<v Speaker 1>it's not necessarily all good news. There are a couple

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<v Speaker 1>of concerns that could still affect the people who originally

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<v Speaker 1>grew kinwa, bell Amare said. The first is that once

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<v Speaker 1>the price of kinwa fell back down to its level,

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<v Speaker 1>many small producers told us they were holding onto their

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<v Speaker 1>grain and the hope that the price would spike back up.

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<v Speaker 1>But this is highly unlikely to happen, considering that with

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<v Speaker 1>the kinwa price spike in many new producers got into

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<v Speaker 1>the kinwa production game, which lowered the price up, probably permanently,

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<v Speaker 1>unless there's a new spike in the international demand of kinwa.

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<v Speaker 1>The other problem is an issue of maintaining biodiversity. Very

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<v Speaker 1>few varieties of kinwa are exported to places like the

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<v Speaker 1>US and UK, especially compared with these some hundred varieties

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<v Speaker 1>grown in Peru, and so if it's most worthwhile for

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<v Speaker 1>producers to grow for export markets, those other local varieties

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<v Speaker 1>might disappear forever. This phenomenon isn't good for the long

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<v Speaker 1>standing health of crops, and it's not a new problem.

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<v Speaker 1>Take the banana, but when I say banana, you probably

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<v Speaker 1>think of a very particular variety of the fruit, like

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<v Speaker 1>someone greatly enlarged and gently bent a yellow number two pencil.

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<v Speaker 1>That's a Cavendish banana, and it's the only one many

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<v Speaker 1>of us encounter outside of the tropics. It's popularity elbowed

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<v Speaker 1>out other varieties and farmers came to rely on it

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<v Speaker 1>as a stable export, which sounds great right up until

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<v Speaker 1>a fungus that affects only that variety swept in and

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<v Speaker 1>started destroying crops. If you haven't heard, Scientists are now

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<v Speaker 1>racing to figure out a way to save it, and

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<v Speaker 1>that's the danger of monocultures. The Irish potato blight is

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<v Speaker 1>another example. That's why organizations like biod Adversity International have

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<v Speaker 1>piloted programs to give native farmers incentives to grow the

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<v Speaker 1>less in demand varieties of kinwa. So will kinwa ever

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<v Speaker 1>where out it's welcome, It sure doesn't look that way.

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<v Speaker 1>Where it used to be limited to health food stores

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<v Speaker 1>and vegan restaurants, kinwa is showing up on mainstream menus

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<v Speaker 1>now in place of rice or pasta as part of

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<v Speaker 1>main entrees as breakfast cereal, or even added to soups

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<v Speaker 1>and salads. Hopefully, with cooperation among exporters and researchers, conditions

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<v Speaker 1>will only continue to improve for Kinwa's growers and for

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<v Speaker 1>Kinwa itself. Today's episode was written by Alia Hoyt and

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<v Speaker 1>produced by Tyler Clang for iHeart Media and how Stuff Works.

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<v Speaker 1>For more on this and lots of other nutritive topics,

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<v Speaker 1>visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com