{"id":28341,"date":"2017-06-01T11:28:38","date_gmt":"2017-06-01T16:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=28341"},"modified":"2017-06-01T11:28:38","modified_gmt":"2017-06-01T16:28:38","slug":"rye-the-underappreciated-poverty-grain-enjoys-a-renaissance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2017\/06\/01\/rye-the-underappreciated-poverty-grain-enjoys-a-renaissance\/","title":{"rendered":"Rye: The Underappreciated \u201cPoverty Grain\u201d Enjoys A Renaissance"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_28348\"  class=\"wp-caption module image left\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28348\" alt=\"J.D. Drennan, senior agronomist for 46 Grain Company, stands in front of the grain elevator at Farmers' Elevator Company in Ames, Oklahoma. \" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/06\/PHOTO-Drennan1.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/06\/PHOTO-Drennan1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/06\/PHOTO-Drennan1-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/06\/PHOTO-Drennan1-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/06\/PHOTO-Drennan1-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">J.D. Drennan, senior agronomist for 46 Grain Company, stands in front of the grain elevator at Farmers&#39; Elevator Company in Ames, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The Oklahoma rye harvest gets underway within the next few days. Oklahoma is the country\u2019s <a title=\"ODAlink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oda.state.ok.us\/stats\/agstats2015.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">number one producer<\/a> of what is occasionally referred to as the \u2018poverty grain.\u2019 Rye doesn\u2019t have the best reputation, but demand is on the rise.<\/p><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/325550061&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=false\" height=\"150\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p><p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">About 200 people call the northwestern Oklahoma town of Ames home. There\u2019s not much here, but one feature dominates the tiny town: The massive white grain elevator run by the Farmers\u2019 Elevator Coop, a featureless prairie skyscraper. It\u2019s where 46 Grain Company stores tons upon tons of rye it produces each year.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">J.D. Drennan, 46 Grain\u2019s senior agronomist, says his company is the largest rye dealer-processor in the country.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Drennan wasn\u2019t always a rye guy. He used to be in the wheat business, and he hated rye. Like many wheat farmers, he considered it a nuisance weed when it invades wheat fields.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cI spent the first 20 years of my career trying to figure out how to kill rye,\u201d Drennan says. \u201cWhenever I first started talking to 46 Grain Company they said, \u2018We grow rye.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018No you don\u2019t. Nobody grows rye on purpose.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">After decades of playing second fiddle to tastier wheat, rye is on the rebound and demand is rising quickly. That\u2019s good news for Oklahoma, where the natural sands along the Cimarron River are ideal for growing the grain.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">It\u2019s always been a popular forage crop for livestock, but it\u2019s rarely been a food source for people in recent history. Now, rye\u2019s growing popularity coincides with the rise in no-till, sustainable farming practices, especially in the southeastern U.S. and Midwest.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThey\u2019ll let it grow all winter to keep the ground covered, that way they don\u2019t have moisture loss and they don\u2019t have nutrient loss through the winter,\u201d Drennan says. \u201cThey\u2019re starting to plant cotton down there. They\u2019re starting to plant soybeans. So they\u2019ll come in and terminate that rye crop, where they can no-till cotton or soybeans or corn or some other higher value crop into that stubble or that residue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Oklahoma is an easy place to grow rye. Many varieties of rye were developed here, too \u2014 \u00a0at the Noble Research Institute in Ardmore. That\u2019s where StateImpact found the Institute\u2019s senior plant breeder, Mike Trammell, surrounded by garden plots bursting with golden yellow rye varieties developed by Noble over the decades.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_28350\"  class=\"wp-caption module image left\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28350\" alt=\"Mike Trammell, senior plant breeder at the Noble Research Institute, shows off the Elbon rye developed at the facility in Ardmore, Oklahoma. \" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/06\/PHOTO-Trammell1.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/06\/PHOTO-Trammell1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/06\/PHOTO-Trammell1-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/06\/PHOTO-Trammell1-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/06\/PHOTO-Trammell1-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mike Trammell, senior plant breeder at the Noble Research Institute, shows off the Elbon rye developed at the facility in Ardmore, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cOur first release was in 1956 with Elbon rye, which is \u2018Noble\u2019 spelled backwards,\u201d Trammell says.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">It was developed simply as a grazing crop, before the use of cover crops was widespread.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cFarmers had plenty of warm season material to graze, mainly Bermuda grass in this area. But what to do during the winter? Dr. Roy Chesmore was the breeder here at the time, and he\u2019s the one that developed Elbon rye,\u201d Trammell says.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Back at 46 Grain in Ames, J.D. Drennan shows off the company\u2019s brand new malt house, the largest in the western U.S. Another growing use for Oklahoma rye: To make local craft beers and whiskey.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cSo we will have a truly Oklahoma grain-to-glass experience for Oklahoma craft brewers,\u201d Drennan says.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Drennan calls rye whisky the \u201csexy spirit\u201d because of its newfound popularity, and says a truly American whiskey has to have rye.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cAccording to the <a title=\"WikipediaLink\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rye_whiskey#American_rye_whiskey\" target=\"_blank\">law set in place by George Washington<\/a>, who owned his own distillery, so he was in the business, in order to be a true American whisky, it must be a rye whiskey and it must contain 51-percent rye in the mash bill,\u201d Drennan says.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_28349\"  class=\"wp-caption module image left\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28349\" alt=\"J.D. Drennan in 46 Grain's new malting facility just outside of Ames, Oklahoma.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/06\/PHOTO-Drennan2.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/06\/PHOTO-Drennan2.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/06\/PHOTO-Drennan2-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/06\/PHOTO-Drennan2-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/06\/PHOTO-Drennan2-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">J.D. Drennan in 46 Grain&#39;s new malting facility just outside of Ames, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Right now there are only a couple of whiskey distilleries in Oklahoma, and they want Oklahoma rye. And Drennan can provide as much as they need. The rye crop in 2014 was terrible because of drought. But since then, there\u2019s been a boom.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cBecause of the glut of grain from two years ago and last year, the price for rye has went into the basement,\u201d Drennan says.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Conditions for the 2017 harvest look great again, so much so that rye farmers are expected to back off the amount they produce, just to get the price back up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oklahoma is the country\u2019s number one producer of what is occasionally referred to as the \u2018poverty grain.\u2019 Rye doesn\u2019t have the best reputation, but demand is on the rise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[491],"tags":[313,694],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28341"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28341"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28357,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28341\/revisions\/28357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}