The growing of hard grains such as wheat alters civilizations

The hard grains of the western end of Eurasia (wheat, rye, barley etc.) have a very different social and economic effect to rice. They are best grown on large estates, using animal traction, and hence fed into the development of feudal forms of landholding. The grain is best ground into flour, which requires milling. After slavery was abolished, this tended to lead towards water and wind mills which, in turn, led towards an industrial solution to production.

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