{"id":1991,"date":"2025-01-09T22:23:32","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T03:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.golive.clarku.edu\/?p=1991"},"modified":"2025-04-18T13:54:19","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T17:54:19","slug":"feeding-the-world-by-going-with-the-grains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/research-highlights\/feeding-the-world-by-going-with-the-grains\/","title":{"rendered":"Feeding the world by going with the grains"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column sidebar is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p class=\"intro\">Morgan Ruelle, a professor in the School of Climate, Environment, and Society, is part of an international research project to determine whether Ethiopian farmers\u2019 age-old practice of planting and harvesting traditional grain mixtures could offer a climate-resilient solution to global food insecurity.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull split-background-75 has-dark-yellow-background-color has-background is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);margin-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50)\"><figure class=\"wp-block-post-featured-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Farmer-and-researcher-credit-Alex-McAlvay.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"A researcher works with a farmer, studying traditional grains\" style=\"object-fit:cover;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Farmer-and-researcher-credit-Alex-McAlvay.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Farmer-and-researcher-credit-Alex-McAlvay-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Farmer-and-researcher-credit-Alex-McAlvay-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Farmer-and-researcher-credit-Alex-McAlvay-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Farmer-and-researcher-credit-Alex-McAlvay-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns sidebar is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p class=\"intro\">Ethiopian farmers may hold the answer to curbing famine, and researchers are listening to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Four decades after Ethiopia saw as many as 1 million people die from famine, Africa once again faces a far-ranging food crisis, this time brought on mostly by climate change. And drought-induced famine is only expected to get worse. But this time, a Clark professor and his research colleagues are investigating a promising, climate-resilient, age-old agricultural practice to help stave off global food insecurity: the planting and harvesting of traditional grain mixtures in Ethiopia\u2019s Wollo region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/morgan-ruelle\/\">Ruelle<\/a>, a professor in the Department of Sustainability and Social Justice, is collaborating with researchers from Cornell University, City University of New York, the New York Botanical Garden, Ethiopia\u2019s Addis Ababa University and Wollo University, and the Ethiopia Public Health Institute. The project is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation\u2019s\u202fPeriodic Table of Food Initiative.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re interested in how the diversity of the grains relates to climate adaptation. In some cases, the farmers are planting five to seven different varieties of two different species in a single field,\u201d Ruelle says. \u201cThey\u2019re planted together, harvested together, used together, saved together, and then planted again the next year.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-outline is-style-outline--1\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/departments\/sustainability-social-justice\/\">department of Sustainability and Social Justice<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-outline is-style-outline--2\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/schools\/climate-environment-and-society\/\">School of Climate, Environment, and Society<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Clark professor is part of an international research project to determine whether Ethiopian farmers\u2019 age-old practice of planting and harvesting traditional grain mixtures could offer a climate-resilient solution to global food insecurity.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":1992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"research-initiaive","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[42,45],"class_list":["post-1991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-highlights","tag-department-of-sustainability-and-social-justice","tag-school-of-climate-environment-and-society"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - 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