A German farmer recently shared insights into why buckwheat is not a popular crop in Europe. According to him, buckwheat is notoriously difficult to grow and is highly sensitive to environmental factors, making it unsuitable for most European climates.
First, buckwheat doesn’t tolerate heat well, so many regions of Europe are ruled out from the start. It also doesn’t fare well with moisture—excess water causes it to rot. The worst factor, however, is wind, which can be extremely damaging to this delicate plant.
Buckwheat thrives best in rich, fertile, dark soil. While this may sound ideal, it also comes with a significant drawback: buckwheat depletes the soil of nutrients, requiring the land to rest after each harvest. This high demand for soil nutrients makes it hard to rotate crops effectively.
But perhaps the biggest challenge for buckwheat in Europe is its resistance to fertilizers. Unlike wheat, which can dramatically increase its yield when fertilized, buckwheat remains unaffected by additional nutrients. No matter how much fertilizer is used, the yield will be roughly the same. In Europe, a farmer may harvest just 10-12 quintals of buckwheat per hectare, but for wheat, the yield can reach 90 quintals per hectare or more, making the difference an astounding eightfold.
Additionally, buckwheat is highly vulnerable to pesticides and herbicides—it doesn’t just tolerate them; it dies much faster than weeds when exposed. Modern agricultural methods, such as genetic engineering, have been unable to improve buckwheat’s resilience, as it remains unaffected by attempts to alter its genetic makeup. This inability to adapt to common agricultural practices further limits its appeal.
Harvesting buckwheat is also a labor-intensive process. Unlike wheat, which can be harvested with standard machinery, buckwheat requires specialized equipment and a much faster harvesting speed. Its unique structure, lacking a traditional “ear,” complicates the process further.
The processing of buckwheat is no less demanding. It requires several steps such as drying, aerating, roasting, and even breaking the seeds apart, making it far more complex than the relatively simple treatment of wheat.
These challenges make buckwheat an impractical crop for most European farmers. Given the high costs associated with its cultivation, processing, and lower yield, buckwheat simply isn’t economically viable for large-scale farming in Europe. As a result, it remains largely absent from European diets, where wheat continues to dominate.
In countries like ours, where buckwheat is more accessible and affordable, it’s a crop we can enjoy while Europeans are unable to grow it due to these practical and environmental limitations.
