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Most of the world’s grain is not eaten by humans

economist.com

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Re: Most of the world’s grain is not eaten by humans

#11

Post by logifail »

988747 wrote: post #6
Schroedingersat wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> which is not super desirable as human food without significant processing I see this repeated all the time. Is making cornmeal or cornflour really that much more involved than wheat flour, semolina, or rolled oats?

It's really not about that, corn products are simply bad for health - too much sugar, to little more valuable nutrients.

> It's really not about that, corn products are simply bad for health - too much sugar, to little more valuable nutrients

For the majority, sure. In our immediate family I have to disagree, after many months of (undiagnosed) illness, and after several trips to hospital, my son was recently diagnosed with Coeliac[0].

Now corn products are now a key component of his diet.

[0] https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-disea...

Re: Most of the world’s grain is not eaten by humans

#13

Post by codefreeordie »

Schroedingersat wrote: post #5
codefreeordie wrote: post #2

Most of the world's grain is eaten by humans' food. We're really really good at efficiently producing grain -- especially field corn (which is not super desirable as human food without significant processing), and we grow lots of animals of all sorts. Naturally, when we can, we feed those animals on field corn -- they don't complain, and it's the cheapest food we can produce for them. In the US we also subsidize corn…

> which is not super desirable as human food without significant processing I see this repeated all the time. Is making cornmeal or cornflour really that much more involved than wheat flour, semolina, or rolled oats?

No, probably not. Mostly it gets said because sweet corn is tasty when prepared simply as a whole food, and it's what most people think of when they see the word "corn".

Re: Most of the world’s grain is not eaten by humans

#14

Post by h2odragon »

Schroedingersat wrote: post #5
codefreeordie wrote: post #2

Most of the world's grain is eaten by humans' food. We're really really good at efficiently producing grain -- especially field corn (which is not super desirable as human food without significant processing), and we grow lots of animals of all sorts. Naturally, when we can, we feed those animals on field corn -- they don't complain, and it's the cheapest food we can produce for them. In the US we also subsidize corn…

> which is not super desirable as human food without significant processing I see this repeated all the time. Is making cornmeal or cornflour really that much more involved than wheat flour, semolina, or rolled oats?

A little bit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixtamalization

Best use of maize, IMO, is fermentation. Let the yeast have it first, take off the volatiles, then feed the mash leftovers to tasty critters.

Re: Most of the world’s grain is not eaten by humans

#15

Post by [deleted] »

logifail wrote: post #11
988747 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really not about that, corn products are simply bad for health - too much sugar, to little more valuable nutrients.

> It's really not about that, corn products are simply bad for health - too much sugar, to little more valuable nutrients For the majority, sure. In our immediate family I have to disagree, after many months of (undiagnosed) illness, and after several trips to hospital, my son was recently diagnosed with Coeliac[0]. Now corn products are now a key component of his diet. [0] https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-informatio…

[deleted]

Re: Most of the world’s grain is not eaten by humans

#16

Post by R0b0t1 »

fortran77 wrote: post #3

I've started eating barley a couple of times a week, which is used primarily as an animal grain. I've found it makes a great alternative to rice or quinoa. From Wikipedia: > Globally 70% of barley production is used as animal fodder,[4] while 30% as a source of fermentable material for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various foods. It is used in soups and stews, and in barley bread of vari…

Try buckwheat and rye as well.

Re: Most of the world’s grain is not eaten by humans

#18

Post by [deleted] »

Schroedingersat wrote: post #5
codefreeordie wrote: post #2

Most of the world's grain is eaten by humans' food. We're really really good at efficiently producing grain -- especially field corn (which is not super desirable as human food without significant processing), and we grow lots of animals of all sorts. Naturally, when we can, we feed those animals on field corn -- they don't complain, and it's the cheapest food we can produce for them. In the US we also subsidize corn…

> which is not super desirable as human food without significant processing I see this repeated all the time. Is making cornmeal or cornflour really that much more involved than wheat flour, semolina, or rolled oats?

[deleted]

Re: Most of the world’s grain is not eaten by humans

#19

Post by hinkley »

karmakurtisaani wrote: post #4

In 70 something years we went from 60% forest coverage of earth's land mass to 30%. I can't help but wonder how it would be without any animal agriculture.

Someone about ten years ago worked out that the snows of Kilimanjaro are fed by the vegetation upwind from the mountain. Whatever global warming is doing, deforestation is doing faster.

Re: Most of the world’s grain is not eaten by humans

#20

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

karmakurtisaani wrote: post #4

In 70 something years we went from 60% forest coverage of earth's land mass to 30%. I can't help but wonder how it would be without any animal agriculture.

Do you have data/source for this? Interested in learning more, didn't think it was this much.
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