it’s a project called 2000m² to represent what crops are grown worldwide on a 2000m² patch of land, proportionally
about half of the crop area worldwide is cereals (the upper half of the image, “other cereals”, “rice”, “maize”, “wheat”), then on the lower half: legumes (soy), oil seed, green fodder for cows etc., then in the vertical column: fruit & nut, stimulants, vegetables, root vegetables, fibers.
so why are so many cereals planted? i just assumed (without looking it up) that’s because it gives the most calories per ha. but apparently not. interesting. makes me wonder, if apples give almost as many calories per ha, why isn’t like 20% of the world’s crop area planted with apples.
In modern terms I imagine that variety plays into it to a degree. Grains you can use to make a lot of different foods, make animal feed, reduce to corn syrup or ethanol or whatever other products (in the US at least that’s the majority of our corn production) and so on. Even before you get into the question of long-term investments versus immediate payoffs under capitalism (how long does an orchard take to start paying off?) there’s just more varieties of products and a deeper market for cereals.
yeah shelf life is certainly a factor. i had always believed that cereals give you the most calories per ha because cereals are so widely grown.
i remember to see the following image:
source: https://craft.stiftung-mercator.ch/files/Dokumente/WIE-GEHT-DAS_Fundraising.pdf (actually the image originally appeared on the WeltAcker Innsbruck project i believe, but their website is down, the link just copied it)
it’s a project called 2000m² to represent what crops are grown worldwide on a 2000m² patch of land, proportionally
about half of the crop area worldwide is cereals (the upper half of the image, “other cereals”, “rice”, “maize”, “wheat”), then on the lower half: legumes (soy), oil seed, green fodder for cows etc., then in the vertical column: fruit & nut, stimulants, vegetables, root vegetables, fibers.
so why are so many cereals planted? i just assumed (without looking it up) that’s because it gives the most calories per ha. but apparently not. interesting. makes me wonder, if apples give almost as many calories per ha, why isn’t like 20% of the world’s crop area planted with apples.
In modern terms I imagine that variety plays into it to a degree. Grains you can use to make a lot of different foods, make animal feed, reduce to corn syrup or ethanol or whatever other products (in the US at least that’s the majority of our corn production) and so on. Even before you get into the question of long-term investments versus immediate payoffs under capitalism (how long does an orchard take to start paying off?) there’s just more varieties of products and a deeper market for cereals.