The problem with wheat
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Wheat is one of the most important grains worldwide: you\\u2019ll 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 \\u2013 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 \\u201cmega crop\\u201d for our food supplies \\u2013 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/BBC)
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