He squirmed briefly, his mind hard at
work analyzing the abundant options.
“Elsa Marie’s homemade bread.
“Then it would have to be Elsa Marie’s
homemade pizza.”
He paused for a long moment before
Elsa Marie chimed in with mock offence,
reminding him in her precise European
accent of another one of her culinary
specialities.
“Ah yes, Elsa Marie’s homemade
pasta,” he said with the broad grin of one
well fed.
An obvious theme can be discerned
about the eating habits in the DePauw
household: They eat real, honest-to-
goodness, homemade food.
As a scientist, DePauw sagely reserves
judgment on the whole gluten issue,
saying more research is needed. He
cites concerns about processed foods
that need more research, but despite
these concerns, DePauw is certain that
wheat is here to stay. Grown in virtually
every country from 60 degrees north
to the southern tip of Argentina, and
from sea level to 9,000 feet, wheat is an
omnipresent feature of human life.
“Wheat is accounting for about 20
per cent of the calories consumed
globally by humans,” DePauw said. “It’s
like rice, one of the major food crops.
It’s a very good source of protein, well
balanced in the amino acids, and can
be manufactured into a great diversity of
products.”
Wheat is also highly convenient,
he said, evidenced by the fact that
sandwiches and burgers are the go-to
convenience foods in the West, while
wheat-based noodles play that role
throughout Asia.
The big question is whether there will
be enough wheat to go around, DePauw
explained.
“The world population will be over
nine billion by 2050, and to feed
everyone, we will have to increase food
productivity by 60 per cent—off the same
or less arable land base.”
Throughout the Middle East, Northern
Africa and Central Asia, there are about
one billion people who consume wheat
as their primary food source, he said.
And in these areas, he added, climate
change is causing deserts to expand by
kilometres each year, cutting deep into
grasslands where wheat is grown.
Meanwhile, in Canada, the cloud of
climate change may have a silver lining.
“There is an opportunity for us in
Canada,” he said. “There are some
projections that yes, there will be much
more wild weather, but the growing
seasons will lengthen and some of our
areas to the north will be more suitable
for arable crops.”
DePaw said the real macroeconomic
challenge will be stoking the economies
of these poor, climate-change-stricken
countries so people who are currently
living on an average of $2 per day can
buy Canada’s bumper grain crop.
“We’ve got to get them into the
economic sphere so they can purchase
our wheat,” DePauw said. “I mean we
can’t give it away, it’s not sustainable.”
While this may seem an insurmou-
ntable challenge, if it is not solved, the
realpolitik of empty bellies will make
the world an even more unstable place,
he said.
“If we want to bring an end to what’s
going on in the Middle East, we’d better
be addressing that income inequality. If
we don’t address it, people are going to
be doing things with guns.
“You’d almost think I was a Quaker or
something,” he added with a laugh.
Though his retirement looms,
DePauw’s schedule is rapidly filling up
with requests to share his expertise.
“My official retirement date is going
to be March 20,” he said, “but I’ll then
be going down to Mexico to give some
lectures, and I’ve been asked to become
more involved in the Science, Spirituality
and Health Research Institute in Calgary.”
For his tremendous achievements,
DePauw was named to the Saskatchewan
Order of Merit and is a fellow of both the
Canadian Society of Agronomy and the
Agricultural Institute of Canada. In 2004,
he was named to the Order of Canada,
being praised for his work shaping the
western agricultural industry.
“He was the lead architect of an
important new class of wheat,” his citation
reads. “Characterized by their high
protein content and resistance to disease,
these cultivars rank among the world's
best and have opened newmarkets for
farmers in Western Canada.”
Spring
2015
grainswest.com
25
A learning moment with research trainee Jacqueline Menzies.
