Plants of Power

While the focus of the course has predominantly been about how plants have changed world history, it is extremely important to focus on how current plants affect our lives.  Many plants have enormous impacts in everyday life, whether it is food products, clothing, medicines, or other uses.  Three of the most important “plants of power” today are corn, rice, and wheat.

Corn, especially in the United States, is a staple and is used in a myriad of different products.  The United States is the largest producer of corn in the world,  They produced 32% or the world’s corn crop in the early 2010s and exports about 20% of the corn production.  Corn grown for grain accounts for almost one quarter of the harvested crop acres in this country.  According to the National Corn Growers Association, about eighty percent of all corn grown in the US is consumed by domestic and overseas livestock, poultry, and fish production.  About 12% of US corn crops end up in foods that are consumed directly (like corn chips) or indirectly through high fructose corn syrup.  Corn also has a variety of industrial uses such as ethanol, a popular oxygenate in cleaner burning auto fuels.  Even a multitude of household products contain corn such as paints, candles, drywall, fireworks, sandpaper, dyes, crayons, shoe polish, antibiotics, and adhesives.  Because of Corn production, Americans consume far more processed foods and corn-based sweeteners in their diet.  Plant biologists at the University of California-Berkely, can test a strand of hair to determine how much corn is in your diet by looking for a form of carbon found in corn.  After tests, it was found that 69% of the carbon came from corn for the typical American.  One of the biologists Todd Dawson tested a strand of his hair after spending just three months in Italy and it dropped to 5 percent corn (http://edition.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.fitness/09/22/kd.gupta.column/). This just shows how much corn we Americans use in our diets, but also how it is not necessary with proof that countries like Italy and most of Europe live fine without it.

by far.

A more universal plant, wheat, has a rich history and is still a frontrunner in importance and production today.  Over 160,810 farms in the United States produce wheat and production exceeds 2.27 billion bushels a year (2007 Census of Agriculture).  The U.S. produces about 10% of the world’s wheat and supplies about 25% of the world’s wheat export market.  Wheat is predominantly used for food products, where a smaller amount is used for animal feeds and residuals.  Wheat started the Neolithic Revolution ten thousand years ago and continues to be a necessity, where it can survive in cold and dry climates where rice and corn cannot.

Like Wheat, Rice is an extremely important staple food for many countries across the World.  Rice is predominantly used for direct food consumption, unlike corn where it has many uses outside consumption.  Universally, rice accounts for more than 1/5^th of all calories consumed by humans.  Although it is a staple for so many countries, it is difficult to grow, requiring at least 2,000 liters of water to make one kilogram of rice.  Rice has the third largest annual production of all crops, below corn and wheat where China is the leading producer.

Check this site out! 

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-crops-that-feed-the-world-2011-9?op=1

Sources: 

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.fitness/09/22/kd.gupta.column/

http://www.ncga.com/upload/files/documents/pdf/WOC%202013.pdf

Photo Sources:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/~/media/Images/MEN/Editorial/Articles/Magazine%20Articles/1972/07-01/Grow%20Your%20Own%20Corn/Corn.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Wheat_harvest.jpg

http://all-that-is-interesting.com/colorado-aspen-forest/bali-rice-fields-2