The first in a two part series exploring the history of wheat and how we have got to the modern wheats of today.
“Wheat has been cultivated for more than 10,000 years, starting off in the Fertile Crescent and arriving in the UK around 5,000 years ago. Milling wheat for flour only became common in the 12th Century, but by the turn of the 19th Century, wheat was the UK’s most significant crop grown for human consumption. However, this wheat was very different to the crops that fill our fields today – the ears would tower over our modern dwarf varieties, commonly reaching 160cm tall, and filled with genetic diversity. These ‘landrace’ varieties were created by generations of natural and farmer selection, resulting from farmers saving this diverse seed year after year. Over time, the landrace would become adapted for the specific soil and climate of the region as the genotypes that do the best in those environments become more prevalent. However, this diversity has been lost from our fields, and all that remains today of these traditional landraces is a handful of seeds that make up a series of entries, known as accessions, in genebanks around the world.”
Excerpt from Sustainable Food Trust, November 2019, words only.