Wheat, Triticum

Wheat is the crop with the largest acreage on our Global Field and, as one of the most important staple foods, covers around 20 percent of the world’s calorie requirements. However, a fifth of the world’s harvest is fed to animals. Wheat has also made a name for itself on the stock market as an object of speculation and is one of the most traded arable crops in the world.

World champion wheat: how does it grow?

There are many different types of wheat (e.g. common wheat, durum wheat, spelt, einkorn and many more) and thousands of varieties that have been created by crossing different types of cereals and wild grasses. Like the original wheat cross between emmer and a wild grass, they all belong to the sweet grass family (Poaceae). Wheat is an annual spiked grass, usually without ‘bristles’ (awns). The upright crop is covered with two rows of grains alternating to the left and right of the stem. The plant is an intensive rooting plant whose roots reach up to one meter deep into the ground.

Wheat is demanding and prefers relative dryness and warmth as well as heavy, nutrient-rich soils of loam or black earth with a high water capacity. Winter wheat is more productive than spring wheat, but quickly reaches its biological limits in more northern and continental climates due to its limited frost hardiness.

Common wheat (Triticum Aestivum), which usually grows higher than durum wheat (Triticum Durum, the second most common variety), makes up 90% of all cultivated wheat. Unlike its ancestors einkorn and emmer, the grain of wheat can be easily separated from the husks and therefore processed more quickly.

The wheat grain consists of 70% starch, 10-14% protein – including the gluten protein, which can lead to more or less strong intolerances in some people – and 12% water. Minerals, B vitamins, vitamin E and fibre are contained in moderate amounts in the outer shell of the grain.

From the Fertile Crescent around the world

Our modern wheat has been cultivated since the Neolithic period and originates from the so-called Fertile Crescent and Mesopotamia (including present-day Israel, Jordan, southern Turkey, Kurdistan, Lebanon, Syria, Cyprus, Iraq and western Iran). Wheat spread all over the world and thus gained importance as a staple food: it reached Europe around 9,500 to 7,000 years ago, and via the Silk Road it reached India 8,500 years ago and China 4,500 years ago. Later (over 2,000 years ago) it also reached North Africa and with the colonial occupation of South and North America from the 16th century onwards. Due to its ease of transportation, grains, flour and bread were ideally suited as travel provisions. Wheat has been an object of trade, a means of payment and part of the early vassal and tax system since earliest times.

With the intensification of cultivation from the Middle Ages to modern times, the world’s breadbaskets emerged in Europe, India, China, Russia, Ukraine, the USA and Argentina – partly due to colonisation. While wheat was mainly consumed by the wealthy population until modern times due to the small quantities grown and high transport costs, this changed with the expansion of railroad networks and the industrialisation of grain mills from the end of the 18th century. This led to a significant expansion in cultivation, with the increased production volumes being managed by the use of harvesting machines.

The global wheat harvest in 2022 amounted to over 800 million tons, making wheat the crop with the second largest harvest after corn. The largest producing countries are the EU states, China, India, where the most wheat is consumed globally, as well as Russia and the USA. Apart from China, these countries are also the biggest wheat exporters, along with Australia and Canada. Egypt, Indonesia, Algeria, Brazil and Bangladesh are particularly important importers of wheat. Hardly any wheat is grown here due to the climatic conditions.

Bread, pasta, cakes: all wheat!

As a foodstuff, it is mainly common wheat that is grown to produce flour, which is used to make the widespread white bread and many types of cake. It is also thanks to its high nutritional value – 100 grams provide 339 kilocalories – that wheat has become so widespread. In Asia and many regions of Africa, flatbreads baked in a pan, on a fire or in ovens are particularly popular; in Europe and North America, a wide variety of bread forms are particularly popular, from baguettes and toast to rolls, which are also available as steamed rolls in China.

Whether bread, cake or pasta – every dough is mainly made up of flour and water. Then there is salt, sugar and oil or butter, possibly also yeast for bread, or egg for pasta and cakes. The type of flour has a major influence on the end product, as it determines which components of the grain are ground. In wholemeal products the husks or bran are also ground. In lighter flours, more components of the grain are removed, leading to the finer, lighter and more gluten-rich flour.

In addition to bulgur and couscous, durum wheat is mainly used to produce pasta. In 2021, this amounted to 16.9 million tonnes worldwide and, with over 500 varieties, no other country has produced as many types of pasta as Italy.

Wheat is also used in the production of beer, whiskey and cooking oil.

Wheat causes intolerances in some people – for example wheat allergy or coeliac disease. For german speakers, you can find a complete overview of wheat intolerances at Zentrum der Gesundheit.

Wheat on the market – an object of speculation

Wheat accounts for over 13% of the world’s arable land and is a focus of politics, trade and the agricultural industry due to its role as one of the world’s main foodstuffs.

Wheat is traded on the stock exchange and is therefore an object of speculation, with bets being placed on its fluctuating harvest volumes due to climate or war. This is exacerbated by the dependence on a few large agricultural companies. Import-dependent countries in particular feel the direct impact of fluctuating world market prices on bread prices and thus the overall nutritional situation. For example, Russia’s attack on Ukraine in 2022 initially caused the already high prices for grain to rise further, even though there was not a gram of wheat shortage at the time. There was no shortage at the beginning of the war, but some expected it and wanted to make a lot of money from it. Since then, the price has fluctuated wildly.

Irrespective of this, harvest volumes are to be further increased and so the industrialisation of mostly conventional agriculture is being driven forward. Wheat is sensitive, so poisons are used to combat pests, fungi and weeds – and it needs a lot of nitrogen, which is why a lot of (supposedly cheap) artificial fertiliser is used. This has negative consequences, such as the leaching and poisoning of the soil by fertilisers and pesticides, susceptibility to pests due to monoculture and pesticide use, loss of biodiversity, higher CO2 emissions and much more. The topsoil is being reduced further and further through intensive, one-sided use, with heavy machinery compacting what remains. This in turn reduces the soil’s ability to absorb water in the event of (heavy) rainfall. One answer to environmental changes and pests is sought in genetically modified breeds – but these only ‘work’ in an industrial agricultural system and entail extensive, little-researched risks for biodiversity, soil health and farmers. For example, the seed industry is developing a hybrid type of wheat that is resistant to pesticides such as glyphosate, which makes farmers dependent on it – a vicious circle.

Sources

Sodi!: History of Food: Wheat
Center of Health: Wheat – The types and tolerability