Wheat, barley, rye, and oats were gathered and eaten in the Fertile Crescent during the early Neolithic. Cereal grains 19,000 years old have been found at the Ohalo II site in Israel, with charred remnants of wild wheat and barley. … See more

Cereals are grasses, in the Poaceae family, that produce edible grains. A cereal grain is botanically a caryopsis, a fruit where the seed coat is fused with the pericarp. Grasses have stems that are hollow except at the nodes and … See more

All cereal crops are cultivated in a similar way. Most are annual, so after sowing they are harvested just once. An exception is rice, which although usually treated as an annual can survive as a perennial, producing a … See more

Cereal production has a substantial impact on the environment. Tillage can lead to soil erosion and increased runoff. Irrigation consumes large quantities of water; its extraction from lakes, rivers, or aquifers may have … See more