by Clifford Spencer, Goodwill Ambassador, NEPAD and
Chairman, Milling4Life
Millers can exercise great power and wisdom in their choice of crop feedstock to promote positive change in developing countries
These crop feedstock choices influence the soil that feeds us all, together with the seabed, sea and lakes, which are hugely influenced by the choice of crops we grow on land and how we grow them.
A negative example of these effects on the sea is the fertiliser run off into the Gulf of Mexico resultant from crop farming activities.
Also in terms of modern farming of crops the soil has more recently been considered a growing medium – however it is absolutely no such thing!
The soil is a living thing with a finely balanced micro-fauna and flora, which in turn support very complex life cycles and organic interactions in the soil biome.
A teaspoon full of healthy soil contains roughly a billion living organisms - an astounding accomplishment for something many regard as dirt on their shoes or upon which we build and cover with buildings and roads.
You are sat upon soil wherever you are reading this article.
It has taken millions of years for the soil on which we all depend to be generated from the earth's crust through natural processes. Yet we only actively started farming it some 15,000 years ago - a mere blip in the history of the earth and the soil upon which we rely to develop and grow.
Millers can exercise great power and wisdom in their choice of crop feedstock to promote positive change in developing countries
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| Clifford Spencer |
These crop feedstock choices influence the soil that feeds us all, together with the seabed, sea and lakes, which are hugely influenced by the choice of crops we grow on land and how we grow them.
A negative example of these effects on the sea is the fertiliser run off into the Gulf of Mexico resultant from crop farming activities.
Also in terms of modern farming of crops the soil has more recently been considered a growing medium – however it is absolutely no such thing!
The soil is a living thing with a finely balanced micro-fauna and flora, which in turn support very complex life cycles and organic interactions in the soil biome.
A teaspoon full of healthy soil contains roughly a billion living organisms - an astounding accomplishment for something many regard as dirt on their shoes or upon which we build and cover with buildings and roads.
You are sat upon soil wherever you are reading this article.
It has taken millions of years for the soil on which we all depend to be generated from the earth's crust through natural processes. Yet we only actively started farming it some 15,000 years ago - a mere blip in the history of the earth and the soil upon which we rely to develop and grow.
The importance of crop choice for the soil on which they grow relates to maintaining this soil in tip-top condition. So avoiding mono-cropping (the same crop continuously for a number of years) is desirable unless the crop is perennial and therefore does not need re-planting each year and thus avoids disturbing the soil.
Also, utilising naturally generated nutrition of the crops from supporting and protecting biological soil activity say by the use of mixed rotations is very important e.g. growing nitrogen producing crops as a natural fertiliser or avoiding the build of crop pests by regular rotation of the cropping.
When moving on to the processing of the crop feedstock by millers then for us as human beings, it should be no surprise that we thrive on fresh and natural food Ingredients. Thus, considering this fact in the design of milling processes is very important e.g. wholemeal flour, the effect of process heat, the use of natural wrapping.
The presently under-utilised crops that grow in their natural environments are good indicators of soil characteristics and climate change. For this reason alone they need to looked at far more closely and boosted in their production and use by millers.
Indeed climate change and its effects on food production is increasingly becoming a major consideration for all of us and that includes millers. The time scale for plants to adjust to climate change is lengthy - at least 80 to 90 years.
So in order to speed up this adjustment process then identifying crops that are more suited to these climatic changes and then growing them is a major and essential step forward.
Millers are not independent of this process so their greater involvement through product identity preservation and chain of custody is a positive and essential business step.
Read the full article, HERE.
Visit the Milling4Life website, HERE.
The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine Milling and Grain
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.
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