Resilient Rye
Rye that served as cover crop over the winter gets mowed in the spring and left to dry as natural mulch.
One way to future-proof agriculture? Diversify your grain diet, and it starts with the cookies.
If the mention of “rye” has you thinking of the marbled, caraway-flecked bread slice that is the hallmark of a reuben sandwich, it’s time for a re-introduction.
Rye flour, the product of the milled berries of rye grass, is so much more versatile as an ingredient than its most famous product. A slightly nutty flavor lends a depth and malty richness to baked goods, and we particularly love it as a sidekick to chocolate (see this recipe for rye brownies from London-based Violet Bakery or this recipe for rye-chocolate coffee cake from King Arthur Baking Company).
But there’s another reason to deepen your relationship with rye - it doubles as a soil health superhero in the field.
Farmers, especially those with a focus on organic or regenerative practices, have long been hip to the benefits of growing rye. It needs very little water, puts down extremely deep roots, and can withstand very cold winters. For these reasons, it’s an ideal cover crop to grow in rotation with more lucrative cash crops - it acts as armor for the soil during the winter, preventing erosion, fixing nitrogen, and breaking up compacted soil with its roots while thriving even in drought conditions. So plentiful are the soil health benefits that many farmers grow it just for that impact alone.
It’s also an increasingly attractive option to diversify a market reliance on wheat, which is uniquely threatened by a warming climate. Global wheat yields are estimated to be down 10% due to climate change; wheat also needs more water to thrive, presenting challenges in drought-prone areas. There are many solutions to the looming threat of wheat production, from breeding new strains of wheat that are better adapted to climate change, to introducing (or re-introducing) perennial grains.
But an action you can take immediately on an individual level is to diversify your grain consumption to include more than just wheat flour, because biodiversity is one of our greatest tools for building ecological resilience in the face of climate change.
Winter squash plants growing in rye debris
Here at Burkett Farm, roughly 25% of our growing space is planted with winter rye from November through May. In the spring time, we mow it down and leave the debris to dry in place. Then a few weeks later, our farm team plants watermelon, butternut squash and other cucurbits right into the debris. This technique has eliminated the need to amend these areas with compost before spring planting, and the debris also acts as a natural mulch, maintaining the soil’s temperature, locking in moisture, and suppressing weed growth.
Since we utilize the debris, we’re not harvesting our rye for consumption. But for many farms, especially larger farms with the harvesting machinery to do so, harvesting rye is becoming an increasingly worthwhile endeavor. Rye was once mostly relegated to solely cover crop status - even now, only 15% of rye sown is harvested - but there’s a growing movement to bring rye into the mainstream as a viable cash crop, which means building out a consumer market.
In Colorado, the Rye Resurgence Project uses rye as a vehicle to educate and advocate for water conservation and environmental resilience for farmers. Rye needs less water to survive than other winter crops like barley, making it an ideal fit for the water-strapped farm lands of Colorado. They are partnering with bakeries, breweries, and distillers to help place rye-based products into consumers’ hands, and they’re working on a documentary film to help educate the public. Farmer Sarah Jones, who is involved in the project, has always planted rye in rotation with potatoes at her Colorado farm; in the last few years, she’s partnered with other farmers to grow and harvest more varieties of rye to sell. You can purchase their rye flour through Roaring Fork Mill.
In the Northeast, the non-profit organization Rye Revival is coordinating field trials, research projects, and advocacy to support farmers in adding rye to their crop production. This group offers technical assistance to farmers and extension agents, hosts public education events like NY Rye Week, and partners with groups like Glynwood Center for Regional Food & Farming to host small scale variety trials.
Curious to integrate more rye into your baking?
Rye shortbread with cacao nibs from Boulted Bread (Photo: Anna Routh Barzin)
We asked Josh Bellamy, owner and head baker at Boulted Bread for some tips. Bellamy sources whole Wren’s Abruzzi rye berries from Carolina Ground and supplements with Danko rye berries grown in Pennsylvania - by milling on site, he can control the flavor to his preference; ‘our blending usually shifts from harvest to harvest so that we can achieve a consistent desired outcome,” he tells us.
At Boulted, rye is a staple - dark rye loafs are part of the permanent menu. “Rye has very little gluten strength, so it benefits from natural (sourdough) and relatively rapid fermentation,” says Bellamy. Another constant on the menu is the rye shortbread, which makes a great introduction to baking with rye, and doesn’t require that you have your own sourdough starter. Bellamy was kind enough to share the recipe with us; consider it your encouragement to try baking with rye, if you’re not doing so already.
While most well-stocked grocery stores now carry rye flour, you can also source directly from a few local millers who use North Carolina-grown rye.
Located in Mebane, Red Tail Grains grows Tayo rye using sustainable methods; you can purchase the flour at their stand at the Durham, Carrboro, and Cobblestone farmers’ markets, or order online.
Carolina Ground is a pioneer of marketing and selling locally grown grains in our region. Based in Western NC, they work with farmers all over the state to grow a variety of heirloom, landrace, and alternative grains. Their online store has multiple varieties of rye available for purchase.
Farm & Sparrow, also based in Western NC, will mill rye berries to order based on your preference for coarseness.