燕麥與夢想——牛奶的趨勢是怎樣引發農業革命的

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

食物迷思

OATS AND DREAMS

燕麥與夢想

How a milk trend could stoke an agricultural revolution

牛奶的趨勢是怎樣引發農業革命的

原文by Tom Philpott

翻譯：鳳梨是只胖柯基

校閱：PC

圖源：Food & Wine，2018年5月刊

In late 2016, the Swedish company Oatly set up production in North America and began shopping its oat-derived 「milk」 to New York City』s latte cognoscenti. By the next autumn, oat milk had conquered the city』s 「most esteemed coffee bars」 at a 「practically unheard of」 rate, according to the coffee trade magazine Sprudge.

2016年末，瑞典公司Oatly在北美地區開始生產燕麥牛奶，並開始在紐約市的拿鐵咖啡專賣店銷售這種牛奶。咖啡貿易雜誌Sprudge表示，到了接下來的秋季，燕麥牛奶以「幾乎聞所未聞」的速度征服了該市「最受尊敬的咖啡吧」。

Chic cafés peddling a grainy Scandinavian inspired formula may sound too twee for words.

別緻的咖啡館兜售有顆粒感的斯堪的納維亞風格飲料可能聽起來太誇張了。

But the market for dairy alternatives is growing quickly in the United States, where negative perceptions of cow』s milk have created a thirst for substitutes made from coconut, peas, and hemp.

但在美國，乳製品替代品的市場正在迅速增長，對牛奶的負面看法已經引發了對用椰子、豌豆和大麻製成牛奶替代品的急速渴望。

Oat milk offers another benefit. If consumption approaches levels now enjoyed by industry leader almond milk, those urban hipsters may be the vanguard of a soil revolution.

燕麥牛奶提供了另一個好處：如果燕麥牛奶的消費達到行業領先的杏仁奶現在的水平，那些城市時尚人士可能會成為土壤革命的先鋒。（越多的燕麥牛奶需求，越多的燕麥種植。）

Oat milk has three times the protein of its almond based rival and at least twice the fiber, though it』s higher in carbs. When it comes to each drink』s environmental footprint, there』s no comparison. As I first reported in 2014, in California, home to 80 percent of the world』s production of almonds, nut trees are swallowing up land once devoted to crops that could be fallowed during droughts. California』s almond crop commands more than three times as much of the state』s annual water supply as Los Angeles.

燕麥牛奶中含有蛋白質是杏仁牛奶蛋白質的三倍，纖維量至少是它的兩倍，儘管它的碳水化合物含量較高。說到每種飲料的環境足跡，其實沒有比較性。正如我在2014年的首次報道，在加利福尼亞州，擁有全世界80％的杏仁產量的堅果樹。由於堅果樹用水需求較高，一旦在當地種植了可能在乾旱中休耕的作物，堅果樹就會趁機吞噬整片土地。由於杏仁產量，加利福尼亞州的用水需求是洛杉磯年供水量的三倍以上。

As droughts become more frequent, few ecologists would argue for extra almond groves.

隨著乾旱變得越來越頻繁，很少有生態學家會主張說再種植多一些杏仁樹。

Oats, however, thrive all over the world and come with ecological benefits. They would be especially helpful in the Upper Midwest, where most prime farmland is currently devoted to just two crops: corn and soybeans. As a result of this unholy duopoly, insect, weed, and fungal pests have flourished, prompting farmers to use a slew of pesticides and fertilizers. Corn and soybeans don』t emerge until late spring and are harvested in the early fall; when the ground is bare in between, it is vulnerable to erosion, which washes away topsoil.

然而，燕麥在全世界蓬勃發展，會帶來各種生態效益。在中西部地區尤其有益，那裡的大部分主要農田僅種植兩種作物：玉米和大豆。由於這種邪惡的雙頭壟斷，昆蟲，雜草和真菌有害生物繁榮起來，促使農民使用一些殺蟲劑和化肥。玉米和大豆直到晚春才會出現，並在秋初收穫。當地面光禿禿的時候，它很容易受到侵蝕，從而沖走表層土壤。

Simply rotating in oats—along with a legume like red clover, a cover crop that remains after the oats are harvested—would change all that, explains Matt Liebman, an agronomist at Iowa State University. Since 2002, he has been running test plots near Ames that compare a conventional two-year corn-soy rotation with a three-year corn, soy, and oat and red clover scheme.

愛荷華州立大學農藝學家Matt Liebman解釋說，簡單地在土地閑置時種植一些燕麥——連同像紅色三葉草這樣的豆科植物，燕麥收穫後留下的覆蓋作物將具有涵養水土的功能。自2002年以來，他一直在艾姆斯附近進行試驗，比較傳統的兩年玉米大豆交替種植方案和三年玉米、大豆、燕麥和紅三葉草方案。

His research shows that adding a third crop like oats disrupts weed patterns, resulting in a startling 96 percent drop in herbicide use. Red clover grabs nitrogen from the air and deposits it into the soil, providing natural fertilizer. Altogether, three-year plots require 86 percent less added fertilizer to yield slightly more corn and soybeans—while dramatically reducing erosion and chemical runoff.

他的研究表明，增加第三季作物如燕麥會干擾雜草的生長，導致除草劑使用量下降96％。紅三葉草從空氣中吸收氮氣並將其沉積在土壤中，提供天然肥料。總而言之，三年的種植期可以減少86％的肥料並能產出更多的玉米和大豆，同時大大減少土地侵蝕和化學物質的流失。

Back in 1950, Iowa farmers led the nation in oat production, planting 6.6 million acres, more than a quarter of the state』s cropland. But demand for oats has plummeted, a change that has helped trigger the erosion of one of the world』s largest stores of fertile topsoil.

早在1950年，愛荷華州的農民就領導了全國燕麥生產，種植了660萬英畝，占該州耕地面積的四分之一。但對燕麥的需求急劇下降，這一變化已經引發了世界上最大的肥沃表土存儲之一的侵蝕。

Oat milk could begin to turn this around. Jessie VanderPoel, a buyer for Grain Millers, which supplies oats to Oatly』s US operation, says an oat milk boom alone wouldn』t be enough incentive for farmers o add the grain to their rotations. That would require tweaking subsidies that help keep farmers wedded to corn and soybeans, and adding oats to the feed of chickens, cows, and pigs—a massive untapped market. Still, an oat milk boom 「would be huge」 in getting such a transition started, she says. If the beverage went the way of almond milk, it could incentivize Iowa』s farmers to sow double the acreage of oats they do now. Subbing oats for just 10 percent of the corn currently fed to the state』s livestock would require more diverse crop rotations on 3.6 million acres, enough to virtually eliminate soil erosion on the state』s most vulnerable farmland.

燕麥牛奶可以開始扭轉這種情況。 Jessica VanderPoel是Grain Millers公司的買家，為Oatly』s US提供燕麥。他說燕麥牛奶的繁榮本身不足以鼓勵農民增加穀物的輪伐期。這需要調整補貼，以幫助農民不僅能繼續種植玉米和大豆，還能將燕麥加入雞、牛和豬的飼料中——這是一個巨大的未開發市場。她說，儘管如此，燕麥牛奶的繁榮在實現這種轉變的過程中」將是巨大的」。如果燕麥牛奶能達到杏仁奶的高度，它可以激勵愛荷華州的農民讓他們現在所種植的燕麥面積擴大兩倍。如果目前飼養給該州家畜的玉米中10%由燕麥替代，那麼360萬英畝土地將會有更多不同的作物輪植，足以實際上幫助該州最脆弱農田緩解水土流失。

For now, annual oat milk sales are paltry. But almond milk, too, was obscure until trendsetting baristas started foaming it into lattes. Sales surged 250 percent between 2011 and 2016, and almond milk now accounts for 64 percent of the $2.1 billion alt-milk market. Oat milk may be on the same path: Oatly is sold at more than 1,000 locations nationwide.

目前，年度燕麥牛奶的銷量微不足道。但杏仁牛奶之前也銷路不好，直到引領潮流的咖啡師開始將其打發加入拿鐵咖啡。杏仁牛奶的銷售額在2011年至2016年間飆升了250％，杏仁奶現在佔21億美元的牛奶市場的64％。燕麥牛奶可能也會這樣發展：目前Oatly燕麥在全國有1000多個銷售地點。

In February, Blue Bottle Coffee, a chain majority- owned by Nestlé, replaced soy milk with oat milk at all its stores.

今年2月，雀巢旗下的Blue Bottle Coffee所有店鋪將以燕麥奶代替豆奶。

I don』t drink much milk, plant-based or otherwise, but I recently took one for the team and tried some made from oats. It was creamy, lightly sweet, and pleasantly grainy. If this is what an agricultural revolution in the heartland tastes like, sign me up.

我平時不會喝太多的牛奶，含植物或其他的。但我最近給一個團隊送去了一點，包括一些由燕麥製成。它是奶油狀的，輕微甜，有令人愉快的顆粒口感。如果這是心中所想的口味所帶來的農業革命的話，我加入！

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