Editing Cereal (section)

{{Short description|Grass that has edible grain}}
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[[File:Unload wheat by the combine Claas Lexion 584.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Harvest]]ing a cereal with a [[combine harvester]] accompanied by a tractor and trailer.]]

[[File:Les Plantes Cultivades. Cereals. Imatge 119.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Cereal [[grain]]s: (top) [[pearl millet]], [[rice]], [[barley]]<br/>(middle) [[sorghum]], [[maize]], [[oat]]s<br/>(bottom) [[millet]], [[wheat]], [[rye]], [[triticale]] ]]

A '''cereal''' is a [[Poaceae|grass]] cultivated for its edible [[grain]]. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore [[staple food]]s. They include [[rice]], [[wheat]], [[rye]], [[oat]]s, [[barley]], [[millet]], and [[maize]]. Edible grains from other plant families, such as [[amaranth]], [[buckwheat]] and [[quinoa]], are [[pseudocereal]]s. Most cereals are [[annual plant|annuals]], producing one crop from each planting, though rice is sometimes grown as a [[perennial]]. Winter varieties are hardy enough to be planted in the autumn, becoming dormant in the winter, and harvested in spring or early summer; spring varieties are planted in spring and harvested in late summer. The term cereal is derived from the name of the Roman goddess of grain crops and fertility, [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]].

Cereals were [[domesticated]] in the [[Neolithic]] around 8,000 years ago. Wheat and barley were domesticated in the [[Fertile Crescent]]; rice and some millets were domesticated in East Asia, while [[sorghum]] and other millets were domesticated in West Africa. Maize was domesticated by [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas]] in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago. In the 20th century, cereal productivity was greatly increased by the [[Green Revolution]]. This increase in production has accompanied a [[Grain trade|growing international trade]], with some countries producing large portions of the cereal supply for other countries.

Cereals provide food eaten directly as [[whole grain]]s, usually cooked, or they are ground to [[flour]] and made into [[bread]], [[porridge]], and other products. Cereals have a high [[starch]] content, enabling them to be fermented into alcoholic drinks such as [[beer]]. Cereal farming has a substantial [[Environmental impact of agriculture|environmental impact]], and is often produced in high-intensity [[monoculture]]s. The environmental harms can be mitigated by [[Sustainable agriculture|sustainable practices]] which reduce the impact on soil and improve biodiversity, such as [[no-till farming]] and [[intercropping]].