Editing Cereal (section)

=== Modern ===

{{further|Green Revolution}}

[[File:Punjab Monsoon (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Paddy field|Rice fields]] in India. [[Green Revolution in India|India's participation in the Green Revolution]] helped resolve [[food security|food shortages]] in the mid-twentieth century.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kumar |first1=Manoj |last2=Williams |first2=Matthias |title=Punjab, bread basket of India, hungers for change |date=29 January 2009 |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-election-punjab-idUSTRE80T00U20120130 |work=[[Reuters]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite report |url=http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/stateplan/sdr_pdf/shdr_pun04.pdf |title=Human Development Report 2004, Punjab |author=The Government of Punjab |date=2004 |author-link=Government of Punjab, India |access-date=9 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708073911/http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/stateplan/sdr_pdf/shdr_pun04.pdf |archive-date=8 July 2011 |url-status=live}} Section: "The Green Revolution", pp. 17–20.</ref>]]

During the second half of the 20th century, there was a significant increase in the production of high-yield cereal crops worldwide, especially wheat and rice, due to the [[Green Revolution]], a technological change funded by development organizations.<ref name="FAOGreenRevolution">{{cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/w2612e/w2612e06a.htm |title=Lessons from the green revolution: towards a new green revolution |publisher=[[Food and Agriculture Organization]] |access-date=5 June 2017 |quote=The green revolution was a technology package comprising material components of improved high-yielding varieties (HYVs) of two staple cereals (rice or "wheat"), irrigation or controlled "water" supply and improved moisture utilization, fertilizers and pesticides and associated management skills. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170518074944/http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/w2612e/w2612e06a.htm |archive-date=18 May 2017}}</ref> The strategies developed by the Green Revolution included mechanized tilling, [[monoculture]], nitrogen fertilizers, and breeding of new strains of seeds. These innovations focused on fending off starvation and increasing yield-per-plant, and were very successful in raising overall yields of cereal grains, but paid less attention to nutritional quality.<ref name="Sands Morris Dratz Pilgeram 2009">{{cite journal |last1=Sands |first1=David C. |last2=Morris |first2=Cindy E. |last3=Dratz |first3=Edward A. |last4=Pilgeram |first4=Alice L. |title=Elevating optimal human nutrition to a central goal of plant breeding and production of plant-based foods |journal=Plant Science |volume=177 |issue=5 |date=2009 |pmid=20467463 |pmc=2866137 |doi=10.1016/j.plantsci.2009.07.011 |pages=377–389|bibcode=2009PlnSc.177..377S }}</ref> These modern high-yield cereal crops tend to have [[Protein quality|low-quality proteins]], with [[essential amino acid]] deficiencies, are high in [[carbohydrate]]s, and lack balanced [[essential fatty acid]]s, [[vitamin]]s, [[Mineral (nutrient)|minerals]] and other quality factors.<ref name="Sands Morris Dratz Pilgeram 2009"/> So-called [[ancient grains]] and [[Heirloom plant|heirloom varieties]] have seen an increase in popularity with the [[Organic movement|"organic" movements]] of the early 21st century, but there is a tradeoff in yield-per-plant, putting pressure on resource-poor areas as [[Crop|food crops]] are replaced with [[cash crop]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/did-quinoa-get-too-popular-for-its-own-good.htm |title=Did Quinoa Get Too Popular for Its Own Good? |date=5 November 2018 |website=[[HowStuffWorks]] |access-date=25 August 2019 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421022945/https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/did-quinoa-get-too-popular-for-its-own-good.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>