What Are Staple Crops?

Staple crops are foods people rely on every day. They usually provide a large share of calories, protein, and other essential nutrients, and are often crops that can be dried, cured, or stored for long periods after harvest. Staple crops vary among different cultures and regions.

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In the Upper Midwest, staple crops might include:

• Grains like corn, wheat, oats, rye, barley and millets

• Legumes like dry beans and lentils

• Roots and tubers like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and other storage roots

• Oilseeds like sunflowers and flax

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Why Grow Staple Crops?

Because staple crops can typically be stored for months after harvest, they give growers flexibility in how and when the harvest is used, processed, or sold. There is a steady, year-round demand for staple crops, adding them to your farm's enterprise can help diversify your farm production, reduce market risk and strengthen your farm's bottom line. Staple crops also fit naturally into healthy crop rotations. Grains, legumes, roots, and oilseeds each play different roles in the field, helping to increase biodiversity, improve soil health, and interrupt pest and disease cycles.

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About The Staple Crop Growers Network 

The Staple Crop Growers Network is a community of farmers, gardeners, and food system advocates across the Midwest learning together about staple crops—the calorically dense, versatile crops that connect us to our heritage and nourish our communities every day. The Staple Crop Growers Network is a project led by Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, in partnership with Fresher Together, the Fondy Food Center, and Michigan Food and Farming Systems. This collaboration is supported by funding from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. 

About Michael Fields Agricultural Institute

Michael Fields Agricultural Institute is a non-profit organization that has been cultivating resilience through research, education, and policy work since 1984. With a broad coalition of public and private partners, MFAI supports farmers, food systems and communities in the Upper Midwest and beyond through a range of programs and initiatives. Follow along on Instagram and Facebook for the latest news and events, and sign up for the monthly Fields Report HERE.

About Michigan Food and Farming Systems (MIFFS)

MIFFS is a statewide nonprofit with a mission to connect beginning and small-scale, diversified farmers, including farmers who underutilize support programs, to each other and resource opportunities to ensure resilient, healthy, vibrant, and viable local food systems.

Growing in Michigan? Connect with Hagan hagan@miffs.org 

About Fondy Food Center  

The Fondy Food Center cultivates wellness in the Lindsay Heights and Amani neighborhoods and the Greater Milwaukee Area by focusing on issues of healthy food access and economic opportunity. We operate local farmers markets throughout the year, provide access to land, resources and support to local farmers, and work with partners to build a better food system for our community.

Growing in Wisconsin? Connect with Stephen spetro@fondymarket.org 

About Fresher Together

Fresher Together is a Black and LGBTQ+ owned and led food and farming collaboration dedicated to serving the people in our community with local nourishing foods and restorative spaces for healing, economic development, training and retreat.

Growing in Illinois or NW Indiana? Connect with Fresh outreach@freshertogether.com.​

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Join The Network: Learn and Grow

The heart of the network is our monthly Community Calls - virtual gatherings where experts, beginning and aspiring growers, and food system partners share experiences and practical knowledge about different staple crops. We also host seasonal in-person gatherings.​ Can't join live? You can still learn with us. Check out the 2025 and 2026 webinar recordings below, available now in a Staple Crop Playlist on YouTube.  Learn at your own pace.​