Grain crops are harvested mature grains used to make flour for bread. The world’s annual production affects economies and food supplies. Weather patterns, pests, and soil quality affect yields. Harvesting methods vary from primitive to industrial.
A grain crop is an amount of usable, harvested, mature grain, which is the grain that is often used to make flour for bread. The term can apply to a variety of quantities of grain, depending on the context in which it is used, from a single field to an entire farm or even the entire world’s annual production. Estimates of grain crops and their yields affect economies and food supplies around the world as grain is one of the best agricultural products in the world in terms of tons produced each year.
As the world’s population grows, grain cultivation becomes more important, and the world’s grain crop is the source of much of the world’s food supply. A good grain harvest guarantees an adequate supply of this important cereal for livestock and human feed. The relative abundance or lack of the annual grain harvest affects the price of grain, which fluctuates almost daily as crops from various regions of the world are harvested throughout the year.
The quality of a grain crop is influenced by a number of factors, some of which are beyond human control. Weather patterns, including temperatures and rainfall, can greatly affect grain yields and while irrigation can mitigate some of the negative effects of drought, it is not an option for many grain farmers who must rely on nature to provide forecast rainfall. Insect pests, soil quality and disease can also affect grain yields. Modern farming methods use pesticides, disease resistant wheat varieties, and fertilizers to maximize yield.
Methods for harvesting a grain crop vary greatly depending on the level of technology available to the farmer. In primitive areas, wheat crops can still be harvested using age-old methods, with the stalks cut and harvested by hand in bundles and stacked on a cart pulled by a draft animal. On huge industrial farms, huge machines called combines can harvest hundreds of acres of grain per day, and many of these machines also process the grain to remove usable grain from the stalk, either by expelling the waste material or reserving it for other uses such as livestock feed.
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