This Ancient Grain-Sowing Method Could Be Farming’s Future

Thanks to a national push to become an agricultural powerhouse, Ethiopia's farmers are feeling the pressure to grow modern crops. Grains should be uniform if they are to be exported. The global market is looking for a specific type of wheat. A mixture of three varieties of wheat and four varieties of barley with some other things thrown in is not a good idea.

With the national embrace of monocultures, new farmers aren't learning the art of cultivating grain mixture, according to Tesfanesh Feseha. She says that young farmers didn't know what to look for.

Although he wasn't directly involved in the new paper, Zemede is still positive. There is a push for modernization. He says that it could be temporary. He understands the appeal of a lucrative offer to grow a specific grain but thinks that the scientific community should offer better.

Through his research and conversations with farmers, he is trying to promote the maslin tradition. He hopes to inspire wider appreciation of maslins from the people sowing the fields to the urbanites purchasing an artisan loaf of bread.

As farmers around the world struggle with soils degraded by modern monoculture, a maslin renaissance may be particularly helpful.

Climate change is supposed to be bad news for small grains. He says that maslins have a number of advantages, including a more reliable yield, a more complete nutrition profile, and the ability to grow in marginal soils. Grain mixes seem to have natural resistance to pests. When a pest is set loose in a monoculture crop, it won't be able to jump from plant to plant if the individual it attacks is surrounded by other types of grain.

The new paper from his team is the first comprehensive case study of growing maslins in the modern era, and other researchers are excited about it.

He was not involved in the research, but he thought the paper was good. It pulled together previous research on maslins and showed their potential to meet the challenge of feeding billions on a warming, less stable planet.

Malleson is effusive as well. She said she loved the paper.

Malleson has family members in farming and feels close to the topic of bringing power back to the farmers. The power is brought down to the ground level.

The new paper is a first step towards nudging maslins back onto the world stage. As a boy, he learned about the maslin tradition of Ethiopia, and he hopes that more people around the world will follow in his footsteps.

In biology, we say diversity must live. Diversity will be lost if it is lost.