We've become detached from the raw grains that we consume everyday, since we have all the baked goods done for us and just buy them that way. In reality, the grain based products we eat today are just a shadow of the true nutritional value that we might get by eating the whole, raw grains. Thanks to modern farmers grain products are plentiful and cheap, but it may be a mistake to assume it will always be that way.
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One way we can reconnect with our ancestral roots of using real whole grains is to begin to grow our own little patches and get to know the different grains. A small plot along the outside of our house, or even a container garden dedicated to grain will do the trick. If you have room in your garden, then many grains will grow over winter when your other crops have been harvested.
Cost Of Grain Production In The USA
I'm just like you when I enjoy buying a loaf of bread for a low cost. Even at that, many people complain when the cost of bread goes up a little. But did you realize that farmers get paid just about the same for a bushel of wheat as they did over 100 years ago?
You can research this on your own, and you should so you can fully understand the nature of the problem. But I heard it explained some time ago that this throttled cost of farm production was actually engineered in the last century to feed a population of workers going into the industrial age. I don't know how true that is, but I will say that farm products, like grain seem to be regulated as to the price they are able to receive for production.
A great article from Hutchison News, a midwest Kansas newspaper, makes a couple of good points:
- The national average cost to produce an acre of wheat in 2016 is $315.78. The national average yield for 2016 was 50.5 bushels an acre. At $3.45 average price a bushel, national average income per acre is projected at $174.23
- President John F. Kennedy said, farmers are the only people who have no control over the price of inputs or the market value of their product.
As one who has grown up in the farm culture I can attest to the truth of these figures and claims. I have friends and family who have grown grain for several generations on their family farms, and more often now I hear them talk about the futility of growing another loosing crop of grain.
The simple fact is that these families will not keep growing these crops for long at no profit prices. The reason they have been able to grow at these prices at all is because of innovations in machinery that allow them to grow increasingly larger volumes. Also, they just have a great tenacity and love for their lifestyle. But big machinery means big payments, so any profits will be raked in by those good old bankers that keep doling out the money to operate.
Price Of Grain Will Rise
This means that we will be paying much more for grain based products in the future. Most of us buy our bread and tortillas at the Supercenter, and there are two ways that suppliers get space on that shelf:
- Lower the price of the product
- Lower the quality of the product to meet that low price
Big retailers tell suppliers what their price must be in order to get shelf space in the store. Suppliers must meet that price expectation in one way or another, and that usually means reducing product quality by using fillers or cheapening the cost of production in some way or another. Remember how good Dawn dish soap was when it first came out?
Quality Of Grain Products Will Suffer
So not only will suppliers have to cheapen the quality of grain based products in order to get it to you, but when farm families finally say “UNCLE” and sell the farm, guess who stands ready to gobble it up? Yep, it's the same big corporations that have supplied farmers with the “necessary” chemicals for decades.
The same ones who have started this big controversy over GMO grains. And that's who will be growing our basic food sources in the not too distant future. Fact is, most modern farmers have no choice but to grow their grains anyway, because they control the seed and how the seed is handled.
Are You Ready To Learn About Growing Grain?
You might be surprised at how easy it is to grow and harvest your own grain, even if you have very little room. I was able to grow some huge Grain Amaranth plants this year in one container, which produced a healthy yield of super nutritious grain.
We're used to wheat, oats, corn and soybeans that are mass produced in farms all over our country, but there are many more nutritious grains that are grown around the world and will grow great right here in the middle of the US.
Many grains grow over winter, so garden space and containers can be well used in the off season of garden vegetables and herbs by producing a grain crop between November and May of any year.
If you would like to know more about the many grains that will grow in your area you might like our article about growing and using Ancient Grains in your own home.
In order to understand more about the grains that your food comes from you should grow some different varieties now while you have time to experiment. I think you'll enjoy growing grains, and once you get comfortable with them you'll probably agree there is a case for growing your own grains at home.
