Main content

The problem with wheat

Are we too reliant on one crop for our nutritional needs?

Wheat is one of the most important grains worldwide: you鈥檒l find it in bread, biscuits, pasta, sauces, sweets and more besides. Indeed, take wheat products off supermarket shelves and they would look rather bare. But recent global events 鈥 not least the war in Ukraine - have caused crop prices to soar.

Ruth Alexander charts how a humble grass grown in the Fertile Crescent became a commodity traded worldwide, and she explores whether we have become too reliant on this 鈥渕ega crop鈥 for our food supplies 鈥 and what alternatives there might be. She talks to Cathy Zabinski, professor of plant and soil ecology at Montana State University, US; Frank Uekotter, professor of environmental humanities at the University of Birmingham, UK; and Augustine Sensie Bangura, CEO of Sierra Agri Foods, Sierra Leone.

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk

(Picture: An ear of wheat blowing in the wind. Credit: Getty Images/麻豆视频AV)

Available now

27 minutes

Last on

Sun 15 May 2022 07:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Thu 12 May 2022 03:32GMT
  • Thu 12 May 2022 04:32GMT
  • Thu 12 May 2022 10:32GMT
  • Thu 12 May 2022 21:32GMT
  • Thu 12 May 2022 22:32GMT
  • Sun 15 May 2022 07:32GMT

Food Chain highlights

Tea, coffee, spices, chillies ... snack on a selection of programme highlights

Podcast