Adam Funck Humans of Reno, Nevada

Humans of Reno, Nevada

Photo by Whip Villarreal. http://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2015/teff-research-project

I am a crop research student at The University of Nevada, Reno. Right now, we are working on improving yields and drought tolerance for teff, a staple crop of the Ethiopian diet. I decided to study this crop after I found out how important it is to Ethiopians. My passion for this crop came after I went to an Ethiopian restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, my hometown. I was talking to the owner of the restaurant, who is an immigrant from Ethiopia, and he told me that it was difficult to keep injera in stock because much of it is grown in Ethiopia but not much was being exported to the United States.

I had heard about Ethiopian food becoming popular in the United States and I wondered what the impact would be on teff production and trade. I found out that, “About 6.5 million Ethiopian households grow teff, which accounts for nearly 15 percent of all calories consumed in the country – much of it in the form of injera, a tart, spongy flatbread that is served with most meals. More than 90 percent of the world’s teff is grown in Ethiopia” (O’Connor). When I found out that teff is such an important part of Ethiopian culture, I wanted to do something to help. The government of Ethiopia has been trying to keep teff prices from rising by putting a ban on exports of raw teff from the country. “The Ethiopian government ended the export of raw teff in 2006, as rising grain prices prompted fears of a food crisis” (Nurse). That solves the problem of keeping teff prices low in Ethiopia, but there is a whole diaspora of Ethiopians around the world, as well as a growing number of people that just like Ethiopian cuisine. Some small amounts of injera are being produced in Ethiopia for export, but it is not enough. All of these people would like to have teff and currently production cannot keep up with this growing demand. I was talking to some professors and fellow students about this issue and people started getting excited. Many people that I talked to mentioned that this problem sounded a bit like the problem with quinoa. “Quinoa was a dietary staple in countries like Bolivia and Peru for centuries. But as the international appetite for it grew, there were media reports that it had become too pricey for many South Americans, including those who depend on it as part of their traditional diets” (O’Connor). I did not want this problem that happened with quinoa to be repeated with teff, and neither did my professors and colleagues. We decided to see how we could improve yields and increase drought tolerance. The varieties of teff that we are developing have a real potential to help increase the worldwide supply. The hope is that we can help farmers all over the world increase their teff production. We want to keep prices of teff reasonable for everyone, but especially Ethiopians, for whom the grain is so important culturally. There are farmers in Idaho, Texas, and even right here in Nevada, that would appreciate help in providing more teff for the growing demand in the United States. Even if we are only able to help a few farmers in the United States, it would help take some pressure off of the Ethiopians growing 90% of the world’s teff.

Written By: Adam Funck

Nurse, Earl. "The Ethiopian superfood that used to be banned." CNN. Cable News Network, 18 Dec. 2015. Web. 03 May 2017.

O'Connor, Anahad. "Is Teff the New Super Grain?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Aug. 2016. Web. 03 May 2017.

Villarreal, Whip. "Researchers seek to improve teff grain production to help global food security." University of Nevada, Reno. University of Nevada, Reno, 22 Oct. 2015. Web. 03 May 2017.