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69-530: Farina is a form of milled wheat popular in the United States. It is often cooked as a hot breakfast cereal , or porridge . The word farina comes from the Latin word for 'meal' or 'flour'. Farina is milled from hard red spring or hard red winter wheat . Farina may also be cooked like polenta and farofa , which are made with ground corn and ground cassava , respectively. Farina with milk and sugar

138-438: A combination of artificial and natural selection . This complexity and diversity of status has led to much confusion in the naming of wheats. Hexaploid species (6N) Tetraploid species (4N) Diploid species (2N) The wild species of wheat, along with the domesticated varieties einkorn , emmer and spelt , have hulls. This more primitive morphology (in evolutionary terms) consists of toughened glumes that tightly enclose

207-535: A decline in climate resilience of wheat has been observed. Hunter-gatherers in West Asia harvested wild wheats for thousands of years before they were domesticated , perhaps as early as 21,000 BC, but they formed a minor component of their diets. In this phase of pre-domestication cultivation, early cultivars were spread around the region and slowly developed the traits that came to characterise their domesticated forms. Repeated harvesting and sowing of

276-409: A good crop of grain. The farmer may intervene while the crop is growing to add fertilizer , water by irrigation , or pesticides such as herbicides to kill broad-leaved weeds or insecticides to kill insect pests. The farmer may assess soil minerals, soil water, weed growth, or the arrival of pests to decide timely and cost-effective corrective actions, and crop ripeness and water content to select

345-520: A lack of showy floral parts (resulting in small, inconspicuous flowers), reduced production of nectar , and the production of enormous numbers of pollen grains. This distinguishes them from entomophilous and zoophilous species (whose pollen is spread by insects and vertebrates respectively). Anemophilous pollen grains are smooth, light, and non-sticky, so that they can be transported by air currents. Wind-pollinating plants have no predisposition to attract pollinating organisms. They freely expel

414-470: A less reliable method based on grain size. Einkorn and emmer are considered two of the founder crops cultivated by the first farming societies in Neolithic West Asia. These communities also cultivated naked wheats ( T. aestivum and T. durum ) and a now-extinct domesticated form of Zanduri wheat ( T. timopheevii ), as well as a wide variety of other cereal and non-cereal crops. Wheat

483-681: A low quality for human nutrition, according to the DIAAS protein quality evaluation method. Though they contain adequate amounts of the other essential amino acids, at least for adults, wheat proteins are deficient in the essential amino acid lysine . Because the proteins present in the wheat endosperm (gluten proteins) are particularly poor in lysine, white flours are more deficient in lysine compared with whole grains. Significant efforts in plant breeding are made to develop lysine-rich wheat varieties, without success, as of 2017 . Supplementation with proteins from other food sources (mainly legumes )

552-450: A major contribution to the nutritional welfare of the poor. Some wheat species are diploid , with two sets of chromosomes , but many are stable polyploids , with four sets of chromosomes ( tetraploid ) or six ( hexaploid ). Einkorn wheat ( Triticum monococcum ) is diploid (AA, two complements of seven chromosomes, 2n=14). Most tetraploid wheats (e.g. emmer and durum wheat) are derived from wild emmer , T. dicoccoides . Wild emmer

621-475: A major contributor to increased grain output. More widely over the last 40 years, a massive increase in fertilizer use together with the increased availability of semi-dwarf varieties in developing countries, has greatly increased yields per hectare. In developing countries, use of (mainly nitrogenous) fertilizer increased 25-fold in this period. However, farming systems rely on much more than fertilizer and breeding to improve productivity. A good illustration of this

690-1038: A myriad of these pollen grains, and only a small percentage of them ends up captured by the female floral structures on wind-pollinated plants. They are typically 20–60 micrometres (0.0008–0.0024 in) in diameter, although the pollen grains of Pinus species can be much larger and much less dense. Anemophilous plants possess lengthy, well-exposed stamens to catch and distribute pollen. These stamens are exposed to wind currents and also have large, feathery stigma to easily trap airborne pollen grains. Pollen from anemophilous plants tends to be smaller and lighter than pollen from entomophilous ones, with very low nutritional value to insects due to their low protein content. However, insects sometimes gather pollen from staminate anemophilous flowers at times when higher- protein pollens from entomophilous flowers are scarce. Anemophilous pollens may also be inadvertently captured by bees ' electrostatic field. This may explain why, though bees are not observed to visit ragweed flowers, its pollen

759-478: A single plant, reducing the effects of inbreeding . It often accompanies dioecy – the presence of male and female reproductive structures on separate plants. Anemophily is adaptively beneficial because it promotes outcrossing and thus the avoidance of inbreeding depression that can occur due to the expression of recessive deleterious mutations in inbred progeny plants. Almost all pollens that are allergens are from anemophilous species. People allergic to

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828-470: A source of straw , which could be used for fuel, wicker-making , or wattle and daub construction. Domestic wheat was quickly spread to regions where its wild ancestors did not grow naturally. Emmer was introduced to Cyprus as early as 8600 BC and einkorn c.  7500 BC ; emmer reached Greece by 6500 BC, Egypt shortly after 6000 BC, and Germany and Spain by 5000 BC. "The early Egyptians were developers of bread and

897-426: A viable crop. When the use of seed drills replaced broadcasting sowing of seed in the 18th century, another great increase in productivity occurred. Yields of pure wheat per unit area increased as methods of crop rotation were applied to land that had long been in cultivation, and the use of fertilizers became widespread. Improved agricultural husbandry has more recently included pervasive automation , starting with

966-439: A wheat grain or berry; botanically a fruit , it is often called a seed. The grains ripen to a golden yellow; a head of grain is called an ear. Leaves emerge from the shoot apical meristem in a telescoping fashion until the transition to reproduction i.e. flowering. The last leaf produced by a wheat plant is known as the flag leaf. It is denser and has a higher photosynthetic rate than other leaves, to supply carbohydrate to

1035-506: A year's supply. Wheat grain was stored after threshing , with the chaff removed. It was then processed into flour using ground stone mortars . Bread made from ground einkorn and the tubers of a form of club rush ( Bolboschoenus glaucus ) was made as early as 12,400 BC. At Çatalhöyük ( c.  7100–6000 BC ), both wholegrain wheat and flour was used to prepare bread, porridge and gruel . Apart from food, wheat may also have been important to Neolithic societies as

1104-452: Is Australian wheat growing in the southern winter cropping zone, where, despite low rainfall (300 mm), wheat cropping is successful even with relatively little use of nitrogenous fertilizer. This is achieved by crop rotation with leguminous pastures. The inclusion of a canola crop in the rotations has boosted wheat yields by a further 25%. In these low rainfall areas, better use of available soil-water (and better control of soil erosion)

1173-400: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed , a cereal grain that is a staple food around the world. The many species of wheat together make up the genus Triticum ( / ˈ t r ɪ t ɪ k ə m / ); the most widely grown is common wheat ( T. aestivum ). The archaeological record suggests that wheat

1242-574: Is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value , DV) of multiple dietary minerals , such as manganese , phosphorus , magnesium , zinc , and iron (table). The B vitamins , niacin (36% DV), thiamine (33% DV), and vitamin B6 (23% DV), are present in significant amounts (table). Wheat is a significant source of vegetable proteins in human food, having a relatively high protein content compared to other major cereals. However, wheat proteins have

1311-400: Is achieved by retaining the stubble after harvesting and by minimizing tillage. Pests and diseases consume 21.47% of the world's wheat crop annually. There are many wheat diseases, mainly caused by fungi, bacteria, and viruses . Plant breeding to develop new disease-resistant varieties, and sound crop management practices are important for preventing disease. Fungicides, used to prevent

1380-459: Is also important to identify periods of higher risk from the climate. Farmers benefit from knowing when the 'flag leaf' (last leaf) appears, as this leaf represents about 75% of photosynthesis reactions during the grain filling period, and so should be preserved from disease or insect attacks to ensure a good yield. Several systems exist to identify crop stages, with the Feekes and Zadoks scales being

1449-405: Is an important source of carbohydrates . Globally, it is the leading source of vegetable proteins in human food, having a protein content of about 13%, which is relatively high compared to other major cereals but relatively low in protein quality (supplying essential amino acids ). When eaten as the whole grain , wheat is a source of multiple nutrients and dietary fiber . In a small part of

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1518-402: Is commonly used to compensate for this deficiency, since the limitation of a single essential amino acid causes the others to break down and become excreted, which is especially important during growth. Consumed worldwide by billions of people, wheat is a significant food for human nutrition, particularly in the least developed countries where wheat products are primary foods. When eaten as

1587-418: Is greater than for all other crops combined. Global demand for wheat is increasing due to the unique viscoelastic and adhesive properties of gluten proteins, which facilitate the production of processed foods, whose consumption is increasing as a result of the worldwide industrialization process and westernization of diets . Wheat became a central agriculture endeavor in the worldwide British Empire in

1656-473: Is itself the result of a hybridization between two diploid wild grasses, T. urartu and a wild goatgrass such as Ae. speltoides . The hybridization that formed wild emmer (AABB, four complements of seven chromosomes in two groups, 4n=28) occurred in the wild, long before domestication, and was driven by natural selection . Hexaploid wheats evolved in farmers' fields as wild emmer hybridized with another goatgrass, Ae. squarrosa or Ae. tauschii , to make

1725-629: Is likely to be prioritised in drought-adapted crops, while stem non-structural carbohydrate is prioritised in varieties developed for countries where disease is a bigger issue. Depending on variety, wheat may be awned or not awned. Producing awns incurs a cost in grain number, but wheat awns photosynthesise more efficiently than their leaves with regards to water usage, so awns are much more frequent in varieties of wheat grown in hot drought-prone countries than those generally seen in temperate countries. For this reason, awned varieties could become more widely grown due to climate change . In Europe, however,

1794-458: Is more diverse, with domesticated varieties falling into two major groups: hulled or non-shattering, in which threshing separates the whole spikelet ; and free-threshing, where the individual grains are separated. Both varieties probably existed in prehistory, but over time free-threshing cultivars became more common. Wild emmer was first cultivated in the southern Levant , as early as 9600 BC. Genetic studies have found that, like einkorn, it

1863-399: Is normally planted after tilling the soil by ploughing and then harrowing to kill weeds and create an even surface. The seeds are then scattered on the surface, or drilled into the soil in rows. Winter wheat lies dormant during a winter freeze. It needs to develop to a height of 10 to 15 cm before the cold intervenes, so as to be able to survive the winter; it requires a period with

1932-511: Is not the same as a wheat allergy . Other diseases triggered by eating wheat are non-coeliac gluten sensitivity (estimated to affect 0.5% to 13% of the general population ), gluten ataxia , and dermatitis herpetiformis . Certain short-chain carbohydrates present in wheat, known as FODMAPs (mainly fructose polymers ), may be the cause of non-coeliac gluten sensitivity. As of 2019 , reviews have concluded that FODMAPs only explain certain gastrointestinal symptoms, such as bloating , but not

2001-415: Is often found in honey made during the ragweed floral bloom. Other flowers that are generally anemophilous are observed to be actively worked by bees, with solitary bees often visiting grass flowers, and the larger honeybees and bumblebees frequently gathering pollen from corn tassels and other grains. Anemophily is an adaptation that helps to separate the male and female reproductive systems of

2070-493: Is sometimes used for making creams for layered cakes. Farina can be used as a substitute for bread crumbs in sweet and meat pies (to absorb excess water). It can also be used to prevent dough from sticking to baking surfaces via the baking process, leaving residual farina on the bottom of the final product. Farina is a carbohydrate -rich food. When enriched with iron, it can be a significant source of dietary iron , especially for vegetarian diets. Popular brands offer up to 50% of

2139-493: Is valuable to impart viscoelastic functional qualities in dough , enabling the preparation of diverse processed foods such as breads, noodles, and pasta that facilitate wheat consumption. Raw red winter wheat is 13% water, 71% carbohydrates including 12% dietary fiber , 13% protein , and 2% fat (table). Some 75–80% of the protein content is as gluten . In a reference amount of 100 grams (3.5 oz), wheat provides 1,368 kilojoules (327 kilocalories) of food energy and

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2208-436: The extra-digestive symptoms that people with non-coeliac gluten sensitivity may develop. Other wheat proteins, amylase-trypsin inhibitors, have been identified as the possible activator of the innate immune system in coeliac disease and non-coeliac gluten sensitivity. These proteins are part of the plant's natural defense against insects and may cause intestinal inflammation in humans. In 2022, world wheat production

2277-853: The hexaploid wheats including bread wheat . A 2007 molecular phylogeny of the wheats gives the following not fully-resolved cladogram of major cultivated species; the large amount of hybridisation makes resolution difficult. Markings like "6N" indicate the degree of polyploidy of each species: Barley 2N, rye 2N/4N, and other cereals Triticum monococcum ( einkorn ) 2N × Aegilotriticum hybrids ( Aegilops x Triticum ) 6N Triticum timopheevii (zanduri wheat) and others 4N Triticum aestivum ( common or bread wheat ) 6N Triticum durum/turgidum ( durum wheat) 4N Triticum spelta ( spelt ) 6N Triticum turanicum ( khorasan wheat ) 4N Triticum dicoccum ( emmer ) 4N many other species During 10,000 years of cultivation, numerous forms of wheat, many of them hybrids , have developed under

2346-427: The whole grain , wheat supplies multiple nutrients and dietary fiber recommended for children and adults. In genetically susceptible people, wheat gluten can trigger coeliac disease . Coeliac disease affects about 1% of the general population in developed countries . The only known effective treatment is a strict lifelong gluten-free diet . While coeliac disease is caused by a reaction to wheat proteins, it

2415-617: The 19th century, and remains of great importance in Australia, Canada and India. In Australia, with vast lands and a limited work force, expanded production depended on technological advances, especially regarding irrigation and machinery. By the 1840s there were 900 growers in South Australia . They used "Ridley's Stripper", a reaper-harvester perfected by John Ridley in 1843, to remove the heads of grain. In Canada, modern farm implements made large scale wheat farming possible from

2484-513: The 20th century, global wheat output expanded by about 5-fold, but until about 1955 most of this reflected increases in wheat crop area, with lesser (about 20%) increases in crop yields per unit area. After 1955 however, there was a ten-fold increase in the rate of wheat yield improvement per year, and this became the major factor allowing global wheat production to increase. Thus technological innovation and scientific crop management with synthetic nitrogen fertilizer , irrigation and wheat breeding were

2553-414: The deepest of arable crops, extending as far down as 2 metres (6 ft 7 in). While the roots of a wheat plant are growing, the plant also accumulates an energy store in its stem, in the form of fructans , which helps the plant to yield under drought and disease pressure, but it has been observed that there is a trade-off between root growth and stem non-structural carbohydrate reserves. Root growth

2622-686: The developing ear. In temperate countries the flag leaf, along with the second and third highest leaf on the plant, supply the majority of carbohydrate in the grain and their condition is paramount to yield formation. Wheat is unusual among plants in having more stomata on the upper ( adaxial ) side of the leaf, than on the under ( abaxial ) side. It has been theorised that this might be an effect of it having been domesticated and cultivated longer than any other plant. Winter wheat generally produces up to 15 leaves per shoot and spring wheat up to 9 and winter crops may have up to 35 tillers (shoots) per plant (depending on cultivar). Wheat roots are among

2691-485: The domestic form comes after c.   8800 BC in southern Turkey, at Çayönü , Cafer Höyük , and possibly Nevalı Çori . Genetic evidence indicates that it was domesticated in multiple places independently. Wild emmer wheat ( T. turgidum subsp. dicoccoides ) is less widespread than einkorn, favouring the rocky basaltic and limestone soils found in the hilly flanks of the Fertile Crescent. It

2760-766: The earliest known wheat with sufficient gluten for yeasted breads was found in a granary at Assiros in Macedonia dated to 1350 BC. From the Middle East , wheat continued to spread across Europe and to the Americas in the Columbian exchange . In the British Isles, wheat straw ( thatch ) was used for roofing in the Bronze Age , and remained in common use until the late 19th century. White wheat bread

2829-567: The farm and because of poor roads, inadequate storage technologies, inefficient supply chains and farmers' inability to bring the produce into retail markets dominated by small shopkeepers. Some 10% of total wheat production is lost at farm level, another 10% is lost because of poor storage and road networks, and additional amounts are lost at the retail level. In the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, as well as North China, irrigation has been

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2898-456: The farmer have a detailed understanding of each stage of development in the growing plants. In particular, spring fertilizers , herbicides , fungicides , and growth regulators are typically applied only at specific stages of plant development. For example, it is currently recommended that the second application of nitrogen is best done when the ear (not visible at this stage) is about 1 cm in size (Z31 on Zadoks scale ). Knowledge of stages

2967-422: The general population, gluten – which comprises most of the protein in wheat – can trigger coeliac disease , noncoeliac gluten sensitivity , gluten ataxia , and dermatitis herpetiformis . Wheat is a stout grass of medium to tall height. Its stem is jointed and usually hollow, forming a straw. There can be many stems on one plant. It has long narrow leaves, their bases sheathing the stem, one above each joint. At

3036-601: The glumes are fragile and the rachis tough. On threshing, the chaff breaks up, releasing the grains. Wheat grain classes are named by colour, season, and hardness. The classes used in the United States are: Wheat is a staple cereal worldwide. Raw wheat berries can be ground into flour or, using hard durum wheat only, can be ground into semolina ; germinated and dried creating malt ; crushed or cut into cracked wheat; parboiled (or steamed), dried, crushed and de-branned into bulgur also known as groats . If

3105-562: The grains of wild grasses led to the creation of domestic strains, as mutant forms ('sports') of wheat were more amenable to cultivation. In domesticated wheat, grains are larger, and the seeds (inside the spikelets ) remain attached to the ear by a toughened rachis during harvesting. In wild strains, a more fragile rachis allows the ear to shatter easily, dispersing the spikelets. Selection for larger grains and non-shattering heads by farmers might not have been deliberately intended, but simply have occurred because these traits made gathering

3174-479: The grains, and (in domesticated wheats) a semi-brittle rachis that breaks easily on threshing. The result is that when threshed, the wheat ear breaks up into spikelets. To obtain the grain, further processing, such as milling or pounding, is needed to remove the hulls or husks. Hulled wheats are often stored as spikelets because the toughened glumes give good protection against pests of stored grain. In free-threshing (or naked) forms, such as durum wheat and common wheat,

3243-519: The late 1840s. By 1879, Saskatchewan was the center, followed by Alberta , Manitoba and Ontario , as the spread of railway lines allowed easy exports to Britain. By 1910, wheat made up 22% of Canada's exports, rising to 25% in 1930 despite the sharp decline in prices during the worldwide Great Depression . Efforts to expand wheat production in South Africa, Kenya and India were stymied by low yields and disease. However, by 2000 India had become

3312-483: The main drivers of wheat output growth in the second half of the century. There were some significant decreases in wheat crop area, for instance in North America. Better seed storage and germination ability (and hence a smaller requirement to retain harvested crop for next year's seed) is another 20th-century technological innovation. In Medieval England, farmers saved one-quarter of their wheat harvest as seed for

3381-568: The most widely used. Each scale is a standard system which describes successive stages reached by the crop during the agricultural season. For example, the stage of pollen formation from the mother cell, and the stages between anthesis and maturity, are susceptible to high temperatures, and this adverse effect is made worse by water stress. Technological advances in soil preparation and seed placement at planting time, use of crop rotation and fertilizers to improve plant growth, and advances in harvesting methods have all combined to promote wheat as

3450-488: The need to systematically remove vegetation or till the soil. They may also have exploited natural wetlands and floodplains to practice décrue farming , sowing seeds in the soil left behind by receding floodwater. It was harvested with stone-bladed sickles . The ease of storing wheat and other cereals led farming households to become gradually more reliant on it over time, especially after they developed individual storage facilities that were large enough to hold more than

3519-473: The next crop, leaving only three-quarters for food and feed consumption. By 1999, the global average seed use of wheat was about 6% of output. In the 21st century, rising temperatures associated with global warming are reducing wheat yield in several locations. Wheat is an annual crop. It can be planted in autumn and harvested in early summer as winter wheat in climates that are not too severe, or planted in spring and harvested in autumn as spring wheat. It

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3588-485: The pollen produced by anemophilous plants often have symptoms of hay fever. Grasses ( Poaceae ) are the most important producers of aeroallergens in most temperate regions, with lowland or meadow species producing more pollen than upland or moorland species. In Morocco, it was found that asthma caused by pollen from Poaceae accounted for 10% of the clinical respiratory diseases that patients faced. The nature of how species of Poaceae grasses flower results in an increase in

3657-461: The raw wheat is broken into parts at the mill, as is usually done, the outer husk or bran can be used in several ways. Wheat is a major ingredient in such foods as bread , porridge , crackers , biscuits , muesli , pancakes , pasta , pies , pastries , pizza , semolina , cakes , cookies , muffins , rolls , doughnuts , gravy , beer , vodka , boza (a fermented beverage ), and breakfast cereals . In manufacturing wheat products, gluten

3726-492: The recommended daily value of iron in a single 500-kilojoule (120-kilocalorie) serving. In commercially available farina, the bran and most of the germ are removed. Cream of Wheat , Malt-O-Meal , and Farina Mills are popular brand names of breakfast cereal. To augment its mild taste, popular add-ins to cooked farina include brown or granular sugar, maple syrup, honey, molasses, fruit, nuts, cinnamon, butter, grated chocolate, jams, milk, and salt. This food -related article

3795-452: The right moment to harvest. Harvesting involves reaping , cutting the stems to gather the crop; and threshing , breaking the ears to release the grain; both steps are carried out by a combine harvester . The grain is then dried so that it can be stored safe from mould fungi. Wheat normally needs between 110 and 130 days between sowing and harvest, depending upon climate, seed type, and soil conditions. Optimal crop management requires that

3864-517: The second largest producer of wheat in the world. In the 19th century the American wheat frontier moved rapidly westward. By the 1880s 70% of American exports went to British ports. The first successful grain elevator was built in Buffalo in 1842. The cost of transport fell rapidly. In 1869 it cost 37 cents to transport a bushel of wheat from Chicago to Liverpool . In 1905 it was 10 cents. In

3933-403: The second most-produced cereal after maize (known as corn in North America and Australia; wheat is often called corn in countries including Britain). Since 1960, world production of wheat and other grain crops has tripled and is expected to grow further through the middle of the 21st century. Global demand for wheat is increasing because of the usefulness of gluten to the food industry. Wheat

4002-513: The seeds easier; nevertheless such 'incidental' selection was an important part of crop domestication . As the traits that improve wheat as a food source involve the loss of the plant's natural seed dispersal mechanisms, highly domesticated strains of wheat cannot survive in the wild. Wild einkorn wheat ( T. monococcum subsp. boeoticum ) grows across Southwest Asia in open parkland and steppe environments. It comprises three distinct races , only one of which, native to Southeast Anatolia ,

4071-468: The significant crop losses from fungal disease, can be a significant variable cost in wheat production. Estimates of the amount of wheat production lost owing to plant diseases vary between 10 and 25% in Missouri. A wide range of organisms infect wheat, of which the most important are viruses and fungi. Wind-pollinated Features of the wind-pollination syndrome include a lack of scent production,

4140-405: The temperature at or near freezing, its dormancy then being broken by the thaw or rise in temperature. Spring wheat does not undergo dormancy. Wheat requires a deep soil , preferably a loam with organic matter, and available minerals including soil nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. An acid and peaty soil is not suitable. Wheat needs some 30 to 38 cm of rain in the growing season to form

4209-514: The top of the stem is the flower head, containing some 20 to 100 flowers. Each flower contains both male and female parts. The flowers are wind-pollinated , with over 99% of pollination events being self-pollinations and the rest cross-pollinations . The flower is housed in a pair of small leaflike glumes . The two (male) stamens and (female) stigmas protrude outside the glumes. The flowers are grouped into spikelets , each with between two and six flowers. Each fertilised carpel develops into

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4278-614: The use of threshing machines , and progressing to large and costly machines like the combine harvester which greatly increased productivity. At the same time, better varieties such as Norin 10 wheat , developed in Japan in the 1930s, or the dwarf wheat developed by Norman Borlaug in the Green Revolution , greatly increased yields. In addition to gaps in farming system technology and knowledge, some large wheat grain-producing countries have significant losses after harvest at

4347-542: The use of the oven and developed baking into one of the first large-scale food production industries." By 4000 BC, wheat had reached the British Isles and Scandinavia . Wheat likely appeared in China 's lower Yellow River around 2600 BC. The oldest evidence for hexaploid wheat has been confirmed through DNA analysis of wheat seeds, dating to around 6400–6200 BC, recovered from Çatalhöyük . As of 2023,

4416-486: Was 808.4 million tonnes, led by China, India, and Russia which collectively provided 43.22% of the world total. As of 2019 , the largest exporters were Russia (32 million tonnes), United States (27), Canada (23) and France (20), while the largest importers were Indonesia (11 million tonnes), Egypt (10.4) and Turkey (10.0). In 2021, wheat was grown on 220.7 million hectares or 545 million acres worldwide, more than any other food crop. World trade in wheat

4485-462: Was domesticated in southeastern Anatolia, but only once. The earliest secure archaeological evidence for domestic emmer comes from Çayönü, c.  8300–7600 BC , where distinctive scars on the spikelets indicated that they came from a hulled domestic variety. Slightly earlier finds have been reported from Tell Aswad in Syria, c.  8500–8200 BC , but these were identified using

4554-429: Was domesticated. The main feature that distinguishes domestic einkorn from wild is that its ears do not shatter without pressure, making it dependent on humans for dispersal and reproduction. It also tends to have wider grains. Wild einkorn was collected at sites such as Tell Abu Hureyra ( c.  10,700–9000 BC ) and Mureybet ( c.  9800–9300 BC ), but the earliest archaeological evidence for

4623-513: Was first cultivated in the regions of the Fertile Crescent around 9600 BC. Botanically, the wheat kernel is a caryopsis , a type of fruit . Wheat is grown on a larger area of land than any other food crop (220.7 million hectares or 545 million acres in 2021). World trade in wheat is greater than for all other crops combined. In 2021, world wheat production was 771 million tonnes (850 million short tons), making it

4692-538: Was historically a high status food, but during the nineteenth century it became in Britain an item of mass consumption, displacing oats , barley and rye from diets in the North of the country. It became "a sign of a high degree of culture". After 1860, the enormous expansion of wheat production in the United States flooded the world market, lowering prices by 40%, and (along with the expansion of potato growing) made

4761-456: Was relatively uncommon for the first thousand years of the Neolithic (when barley predominated), but became a staple after around 8500 BC. Early wheat cultivation did not demand much labour. Initially, farmers took advantage of wheat's ability to establish itself in annual grasslands by enclosing fields against grazing animals and re-sowing stands after they had been harvested, without

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