Want to help poor farmers in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia make a better living without growing coca? Eat your quinoa. According to an article in today’s FoodNavigator, Bolivian farmers are now getting three times more money for their quinoa crops as they did in 2006. Almost all the world’s quinoa comes from these three countries, where farmers are scrambling to clear more land and increase yields.

(FoodNavigator reporter Jess Halliday told the WGC that South Americans are now eating more quinoa themselves, after long turning their backs on a crop the Spanish derided as “pig food.” “As they see the high prices Americans and Europeans are prepared to pay … they reckon it must be worth eating,” says Halliday.)

Along with quinoa, other crops like teff and sorghum (shown here) are benefiting worldwide from the surge in whole grains, especially those that are gluten free. Sorghum is grown right here in the U.S., but most of it’s used for animal feed or converted to ethanol – with less than 2% being used for food. Teff, once marketed almost solely to the Ethiopian community, is also becoming known and popular with a more widespread audience as companies in the Western U.S. find it suits the local growing climate.

We love wheat as much as the next person, but it’s important to remember that whole grain does not have to mean whole wheat. If someone told you to “eat more vegetables” you wouldn’t just eat carrots, as tasty and healthy as they are – you would understand without being told that it’s important to eat a variety of vegetables to get a variety of essential nutrients. It’s the same thing with grains. Whole wheat is great, but do your body a favor and branch out: try some new and different grains that all offer different tastes and different nutrients.

But better do it quick – before soaring demand leaves you out in the cold! (Cindy)