About Our Industry: Grains
- On average, around 26.0 million hectares of Crops are sown in Australia each year.
- Grain crops includes: cereal crops (wheat, barley, oats, millet and rye), pulses and legumes (peas, faba/broad beans, lentils, lupins, vetch, chickpeas and soybeans) and oilseeds (canola, sunflower, safflower and linseed).
- The gross value of these Australian crops is about $25 billion per year.
- The largest crop grown throughout Australia is wheat - Australian farmers grow almost 28 million tonnes each year. Of this, 20% is used nationally to make breads, cereals, pasta, noodles, cakes and biscuits and as stockfeed and around 80% is exported to more than 40 countries.
- The second largest crop grown in Australia is barley. Australian growers produce around 2.5 million tonnes of malting barley and 4.5 million tonnes of feed barley each year!
- Australia makes up over 30% of the world's malting barley trade and approximately 20% of the world's feed barley trade.
- World markets demand Australian grain, due to its high quality, cleanliness and milling/production performance.
Grain Foods- Part of a Healthy Diet
by Elleisha A. (Year 9)
Did you know?
- Grains are one of the main sources of key nutrients, and they are essential for brain function, growth and immunity.
- The fiber in grain foods helps promote the growth of good bugs in your bowel.
- Healthy levels of these bugs may be linked to a whole host of benefits from staying a healthy weight to better mental health in old age.
- People who eat whole grain foods, are less likely to develop diabetes, some cancers and heart disease.
- You should eat grain foods 3-4 times a day.
- At least half of that should be high fiber or whole gran foods.
- Australians get more than 33% of their energy from grain foods that are less-healthy. Not only are these food high in saturated fat and salt, they have very few of the nutrients we need to stay healthy.
- Whole grain contains more than 26 different natural substances which may help to keep us healthy.
- You should choose food with more fiber.
- Healthy ‘higher protein’ diets include whole grain or high fiber grain foods like whole grain bread.
These facts have been gathered from the following source:
http://www.glnc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/GLN_102851_Factsheet-GRAINS_01-WEB.pdf