Grain
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Grains are small, hard, dry seeds, with or without attached hulls or fruit layers, harvested for human or animal consumption. "Grain crops" are grain seed producing plants. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals (wheat, rye) and legumes (beans, soybeans).
After being harvested, dry grains are more durable than other staple foods, such as starchy fruits (plantains, breadfruit, etc.) and tubers (sweet potatoes, cassava, and more). This durability has made grains well suited to industrial agriculture, since they can be mechanically harvested, transported by rail or ship, stored for long periods in silos, and milled for flour or pressed for oil. Thus, major global commodity markets exist for canola, maize, rice, soybeans, wheat, and other grains but not for tubers, vegetables, or other crops.
See also
- Ancient grains
- Cereals
- Domestication
- Grain dole
- Grain drying
- Legume
- List of dried foods
- Mycoestrogen
- Perennial grain
- Staple foods
- Vegetable fats and oils
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