On hand-worked land corn yields about 2.5-5.0 million kcal per acre, wheat 1.2-2.3 million and oats 1.2-2.1 million, so corn gives roughly twice the calories of wheat from the same acre, while wheat remains essential for bread. Rice is a staple too, but the caloric guide gives no rice yield, so rice cannot be planned from the guide’s figures; corn eaten without traditional lime processing has caused pellagra.
Part of Caloric Budget for a Community
Staple grains are the cereal crops, wheat, corn, rice and oats, that supply most of a community’s calories and are stored dry for the year.
Grains Carry The Calories And Bring Their Own Processing
The caloric guide’s sample plan for 100 people puts 25-30 acres in staple grains: wheat, corn and oats. Its calorie figures for the three are:
| Grain | Yield (lb/acre) | kcal per lb | kcal per acre (million) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheat | 800-1,500 | 1,520 | 1.2-2.3 |
| Corn (grain) | 1,500-3,000 | 1,650 | 2.5-5.0 |
| Oats | 700-1,200 | 1,740 | 1.2-2.1 |
Working: wheat 800 × 1,520 = 1.22 million and 1,500 × 1,520 = 2.28 million; corn 1,500 × 1,650 = 2.48 million and 3,000 × 1,650 = 4.95 million; oats 700 × 1,740 = 1.22 million and 1,200 × 1,740 = 2.09 million. Oats are the most energy-dense per pound and the least productive per acre of the three. The guide’s warning stands: a mixed strategy is mandatory, since monoculture invites catastrophic failure.
Rice: Energy Value Without A Yield
Raw white rice is about 365 kcal per 100 g (recalled food-composition value), which is about 1,650 kcal per lb, similar to corn. The caloric guide gives no rice yield and its sample plan does not grow rice, so this page cannot give rice calories per acre. Rice also normally needs warm, wet or flooded ground. Where it cannot be grown it has to be stored, traded or substituted, which matters for any menu that uses it (Weekly Menu Rotation).
What You Need
- Seed of grains suited to your climate and season (Grain Seeds)
- Dry storage to keep grain from moulding (Grain Storage)
- Milling, by quern or mill (Rotary Quern, Community Grain Mill); for a mill that crushes grain see also Stone Types, which is about millstone stone
- Lime or ash processing for corn, where corn is a main food
Method: Plan Grains
Step 1: Fix the share of calories each grain will supply, keeping any one crop at or below the 30% the guide recommends. Step 2: Convert the share into acres using the table above. Step 3: Plan storage by weight: the energy for a share divided by calories per pound gives pounds to store. Step 4: Plan the milling and the food: bread needs a bread oven (Bread Ovens), and corn needs processing.
Common Mistakes
- Planning on corn alone. The corpus records that pellagra followed maize diets without traditional lime processing (Deficiency Diseases).
- Counting unmilled grain as flour. Milling and sifting lose weight, and refining white flour changes nutrient content (Preserving Nutrition notes this).
- Storing grain damp. Moisture, not the grain, decides whether stores last.
- Forgetting that grain is also feed. The parent limits animal grain to 10-15% of cropland.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Root Crops — the high-yield partner of grain
- Combine with: Legumes and Oil Crops — what grain lacks