By Jeri Stroade and Michael Boland, Kansas State University.

Updated September 2009 by Diane Huntrods, AgMRC, Iowa State University.


History
Rye (Secale cereale) has been cultivated for more than 2,000 years and was the predominant world bread grain until the 19th century when it was replaced with wheat. The grain appears to have originated in Southwestern Asia, but the precise area is not known. In the first millennium, rye was transferred to northern Europe where it spread to the rest of Europe. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Europeans brought rye to North and South America with them. From Europe, it continued to spread to Russia and Siberia. Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Australia and South Africa first produced rye in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
 
Production
Rye is an extremely hardy crop. It can survive harsh winters, sandy soils with low fertility and drought conditions, requiring an estimated 30 percent less water than wheat. In some cases, the production of rye offers the only chance of economic returns that the producer may have for the land. Winter varieties of rye are much more common than spring varieties. Agronomic characteristics and the end-use quality of winter rye are also better than spring rye.

The United States is a significant producer of rye. The 2008 rye crop totaled 8.0 million bushels and was valued at nearly $50.5 million, reflecting an average price jump from $3.22 per bushel in 2004 to $6.32 last year. Much of the U.S. rye production takes place in Georgia and Oklahoma. In 2008 Georgia produced 1.2 million bushels of rye, which was valued at $8.4 million; Oklahoma produced 1.1 million bushels of rye, which was valued at $7.3 million.  (NASS 2009)

While rye is produced throughout the world, the largest producing areas are currently the European Union-27 (EU-27), Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. According to the Foreign Ag Service (FAS), foreign rye production rebounded in 2008/09, increasing to 17.2 million metric tons (MT). Production increased in the EU-27 countries, rising from 7.7 million MT to 9.2 million MT. Production also increased in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. 
 
Value-added Products
While rye is in the field, it can be used to pasture livestock and to improve soil properties in crop rotations. Its grain is fed to livestock. While the feed value of rye is lower than other crops, recent technological improvements in feed production have allowed a greater proportion of rye to be used in livestock feed. Experts from the DLG, a German agriculture society, researched the feasibility of adding rye to livestock and poultry feed, concluding that the grain could be economically added to cattle, pig and sheep feed but not to chicken or turkey feed. Rye is also used as livestock bedding.

Rye flour is used in breads and other baked goods. However, rye dough does not have the elasticity and gas-retention properties that wheat has; therefore, wheat is preferred to rye in high-volume bread production. 

The grain is also used in alcohol distilling. Recently, European scientists have explored the possibility of producing ethanol from rye. Rye can be used to manufacture composite board as well.

Exports and Imports
The global rye trade has nearly vanished. The value of exported rye was $822,000 in 2008, a 116 percent rise from the previous year. Most U.S.-grown rye was exported to Japan and to Canada.  (FAS 2009)

The United States imports more rye than it exports. The value of the rye entering the United States in 2008 was $48.1 million, a 115 percent increase from the previous year. Canada and Germany supplied all of the imported rye.  (FAS 2009)


Sources

Crop Production Annual Summary, National Ag Statistical Service (NASS), USDA, 2009.

Crop Values Annual Summary, NASS, USDA, 2009.

Rye: Supply and disappearance, Feed Grains Database, Economic Research Service (ERS), USDA, 2009.

Small Grains Annual Summary, NASS, USDA, 2008.

U.S. Trade Internet System, FASonline, USDA.

Written August 2003 and updated September 2009.