Deliverable D8.1: Report on the market potential of minor cereal crops and consumers perceptions about them in different European regions (Deliverable D8.1, HealthyMinorCereals)

Summary

Common wheat (Triticum aestivum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare) are the most important cereals grown in Europe (in ha). Both crops are suitable for large-scale crop production Other crop species like spelt (T. spelta), rye (Secale cereale), oats (Avena sativa) emmer (T. dicoccum) and einkorn (T. monococcum)are not relevant to food or feed production anymore.
In comparison to conventional common wheat, minor cereals typically grow well in poor soils or under low input conditions, and there are hints that the nutritional quality is high.
However, MC have been hardly developed as commercial crop varieties, with virtually no major investment in exploiting genetic diversity, breeding programmes, and optimising of agronomic and food industry processes.
Farmers will only produce these crops if there is a chance to market them successfully. This report gives a comprehensive overview of available information and expert opinion relating to the MC market from several European Countries and Turkey. It includes statistical data, information on existing market initiatives and products produced by MC.
In addition, consumer trends are identified based on a literature survey.