Triticale: the Supergrain that You've Never Heard of

TR is The Offspring that came from the marriage between wheat and rye creating the perfect hybrid Baby that had all the versatility in yield of wheat while still holding on to the hardiness and fast growing superpowers of Rye this new invention came from a lab in Scotland all the way back in 1875 it didn't exactly catch on in popularity in the beginning because even though the result was a highly nutritious and fast growing superfood the seed heads were sterile so as nutritionally as they were their seeds couldn't be replanted as crops normally would making the farmer reliant on buying the lab grown hybrids forever so it stayed in the background for another 15 years until a German physician called Wilhelm rimpa picked it up again and somehow managed to get a partially fertile strain this wasn't exactly a perfect solution reproduction still hovered between 20 and 30% viability but it was a step in the right direction then in the 1930s chemical tinkering on a molecular level became a bit of a fat in the scientific community and everyone was trying to prove something no matter how inconceivably useless their discoveries were to actual practical applications and usually those experiments revolved around killing as many people as possible because between the 30s and the 70s if you recall your history lessons in school war was all the rage but someone picked up the hybrid grain again and in all that chaos something magical happened it was discovered that by by treating the seeds with culine they could stimulate fertility and to spare you all the scientific jargon we'll put it simply culine was predominantly used to treat gout and arthritis of all things but somehow it also had a positive effect on plant germination the crop wasn't quite perfect yet results varied wildly and getting the strain to stabilize took years to perfect it would have fallen off the table a long time ago had it not been for the very promising nutritional makeup that some of those babies had in them but huge efforts in breeding programs almost like developing a new breed of livestock and a little more strict observation and tinkering and we finally got a grain that was on the superfood level of avocados berries and beans fiber proteins minerals and all of the vitamin groups you name it and trali had more of it than any of its wheat or rye forbears and really the process of getting it to become a stable crop didn't actually involve any molecular level metaling the only real chemical treatment it received was to improve itsy mination rates after that it was all about replanting viable seeds over and over again until the crop decided on its own terms what genes worked best for it that part was all mother nature and her ability to select the strongest genes to win out naturally now the world wasn't quite ready to just go ahead and put a lab grown plant on their plates despite being perfectly happy to eat the corn soybean and canola oil that's been put through the laboratory conveyor belts for decades by that point the thing is these super modified foods had been a part of human life for centuries they' just been poked and pted at slowly and over time that no one even questioned how healthy they were but trali was born in a lab to begin with so it was placed in The Matrix category since its existence no matter how much less it was actually altered by human hands than the crops that were so abundantly in circulation that they weren't even noticed it did gain a little traction as a fodder feed for livestock for a few years thanks to its valuable amounts of Lysine protein and B vitamins that's so hard to come by naturally in crops and that was enough to keep it on the market even just as a background character now came the early '90s and stricter laws surrounding food began taking effect the US weren't exactly Front Runners here since those companies who wanted their super fast and sometimes nutritionally empty Foods on the Shelf are still fighting to this day to remain the top dogs but the greater part of Europe is incredibly strict about GMOs and no and more so than Russia if you're ever unsure if something is safe to put in your mouth look at whether or not Russia Germany and Switzerland allow it and that should be an excellent indicator of whether or not it's safe to consume and they agree that tral doesn't fall under GMOs anymore no longer wheat or Rye or even a hybrid of the two but a crop in its own right and perfectly acceptable as food for humans it spent the greater part of the 9s and early 2000s being served on more and more plates inside the home across Europe and Australia while various strains were bred that were more suited to specific climates and uses spring forage dual purpose and Specialty are the four strains that it now comes in Spring trali is faster to mature and more appropriate for those who have short growing Seasons or short Winters making for the perfect cover crop that is harvestable in time for the big summertime crops to go into the ground and still being able to make a profit from it the forage variety is exactly that a forage crop slightly higher in biomass and with more carbohydrates for the mass consuming cattle it's a great way to cover an empty field for the time being while still being able to feed your cows sheep and goats a highly nutritious feed that's right in the open where they'd prefer to graze anyway the dual-purpose trali are the most adaptable to their growing conditions and they serve both as human consumed grain and an animal feed the specialty tral is a wide spectrum this slot is reserved for farmers who are more experimenting with creating strains that are more cold hearty or ones that can handle extreme drought pest resistance and such these strains are being developed mostly on Organic Farms looking to produce new variations naturally and through repeated plantings in more and more extreme climates the USA became more accepting of trali when the organic farms picked it up and you can find it in a lot of organic breakfast cereals flour products like bread and pasta and it's especially popular in supplemental shakes because of its high levels of protein and fiber it's only very recently that anyone's even considered it as a viable large scale production grain outside of just animal feed and the health sector and that's thanks in great part to homesteads and smallscale Farms these smaller operations realized quickly enough that the price to get your hands on trali wasn't all that much different from any other grain and at first it was used predominantly as a cover crop to protect fields in between larger plantings and a convenient way to feed their livestock and if there was any left over by the end of the season there's always someone around who needs animal fodder to sell the excess to the trick with trali is to harvest right around the time it reaches the flag leaf stage that's the final stage of growing before it flowers after that point it loses some of its sugars just like wheat does that's not to say that it will be useless to you after this stage just that you want the optimal amount of nutrition in your crop especially if you're feeding it to your dairy cows who just need a little more oomph in their feed the extension to move over to a food sort for themselves just came naturally after that besides if the ultra aware gym rats and the organic farmers approve of it why shouldn't anyone else the only difference in planting then is to allow the heads to go to seed and process the grain as you normally would it resembles wheat in most ways so the processing isn't any different either and even then the stalks and leaves are perfectly good to feed your animals they just won't have quite as much lysine and protein after pushing all of those nutrients into their fruits most of the small scale Farmers harvest the heads and let their pigs run through the field afterwards leaving enough valuable manure and a good trampling to till your field for you leaving it just as it should be for the next round of planting we cannot stress just how valuable a crop it is in terms of animal feed with hay and Alfalfa prices constantly rising and there never being enough well we can use all the help we can get to add to our animals feed and when it's as nutritionally dense as trali you really can't refuse can you for animal use you get 15% worth of crude protein a decent amount of magnesium copper zinc iron phosphorus and manganese it contains more protein and lizine than Ry or wheat but it's going to depend on The Strain the fod treed Cali will always be higher in lizine and proteins than the others for human consumption let's break it down into the usual cup-sized portions iron magnesium and zinc are so high that it makes up more than 90% of your daily nutritional needs for those minerals but the big winners are manganese phosphorus and copper all of them go above 100% with manganese coming in at a whopping 400% worth of your daily requirements with those massive amounts of minerals you might as well Chuck your multi vitamin tablets in the trash and call it a day protein comes in at 133% and the whole lot per 100 G at least gives you a decent 330 calories a very reasonable amount compared to other grains especially considering that it covers a much wider nutritional Spectrum for Less space taken up around the hips if you know what we mean and even though it's lower in gluten than wheat it's not devoid of it so our friends with gluten intolerances or celiac disease should still be avoiding it but we're guessing that most of you are here to hear about the planting conditions geared more towards your livestock and since human consumption is only now really starting to pick up steam we'll leave the recipes and products for another day there's still a lot of experimentation happening there but for those who are interested it's just as versatile as wheat and rye and the process to get it on your plate is about the same pasta cereal bread cracked grains you can do it all with the same amount of effort as you would otherwise so now let's look at trali in the field for climates that get frost and snow during winter it needs to be planted after to the last frost usually between mid and late spring warmer climates can plant it in Autumn or winter as long as it doesn't get cold enough to leave an icy sheet on the ground in the morning trali should Brave the cooler weather of winter just fine for the most part trali hits that sweet spot between cold and warm in its beginning stages it doesn't want ice but it doesn't do well in full heat either just as the weather comes into its full heat about 3 months after sewing it's ready for Harvest at its flag leaf stage for animal feed another month of you want seed heads for the grain the only real consideration with trali outside of extreme cold is that it's not suited for overly wet conditions it likes things cool and dry besides keeping the ground moist until it sprouts after that it only wants the water it needs and be left dry during the day late afternoon or early evening watering is all you'll need otherwise they'll just become susceptible to rot leaf spot and smut but even these run-of-the-mill diseases are relatively rare if the conditions aren't con constantly wet and new strains are being developed as we speak have a talk with the people growing it in your immediate area chances are that they're experimenting with newer more resistant strains and they'd be just too happy to extend their experimentations to your land seriously almost every acre that's growing trali is under observation by some expert or another and a heck of a lot of them are funded by studies actively seeking to stabilize better strains that's why we've avoided looking at yields thus far there really is still a lot of variation around that's why we've avoided looking at yields thus far there really is a lot of vegetation around for fod purposes an acre can produce a good 8 tons but the grain heads jump all over the place thus far the spring and Specialty varieties are proving to give the highest yields and they're improving every year right now tral is the new big name to watch with so many eyes on its development and the active steps taken to give it a wider variety of growing conditions and uses well it's bound to be an exciting and constantly changing space to watch on this channel we aren't exactly in favor of crops that have been altered by human hands but trali is a little different besides a little help with germination well there wasn't all that much medling outside of the initial stages of growth the genetic line after those beginning stages was allowed to form and stabilize as close to naturally as possible not all modern developments are the devil we are Human After All and it's in our nature to make the environment and the plants and animals in those environments fit our needs we adapt and we make everything else adapt to us in turn consider trali it grows fast relatively easily and it's packed with so much more nutrition than the other empty options on our plates that we've been desperately needing a replacement for centuries now are you like us excited about the new prospects of a superfood level grain that can produce flour bread pasta and cereals that will actually make us healthier for a change or are you hesitant to try the new kit on the Block if you are tell us what's holding you back in the comments below chain starts with having the conversation after all and while you're at it don't forget to like subscribe and share your engagement is what keeps the lights on over here and our team appreciates every single one of you see you next week cheers

Channel: Regenerative Farmers of America

Views: 70,914

Keywords: triticale, grain, farming, rye, grain farming, agriculture, different types of grains, grain business ideas, wheat, wheat harvest, tritcale grain, tritcale farming, grazing, livestock operation

Id: aly5PSCxpu8

Length: 12min 44sec (764 seconds)

Published: Sat May 04 2024