Starting decades ago as fashionable, high-value gourmet greens, today microgreens have gained popularity among consumers for their nutritional profile and high content of antioxidant compounds. Now, a new study suggests that the tiny plants have the potential to help provide global nutrition security.
As part of a project titled, "Food Resilience in the Face of Catastrophic Global Events," an international team of researchers has found these vegetables can be grown in a variety of soilless production systems in small spaces indoors, with or without artificial lighting. The findings are especially relevant amid a pandemic that has disrupted food supply chains.
“The current COVID-19 pandemic revealed the vulnerability of our food system and the need to address malnutrition issues and nutrition-security inequality, which could be exacerbated by potential future emergencies or catastrophes,” said Penn State University Assistant Professor, team leader Francesco Di Gioia. “Nutrient-dense microgreens have great potential as an efficient food-resilience resource.”
Open Philanthropy and USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture supported this research. For more information, read this Penn State News article.