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untapped. As climate change challenges traditional farming systems, millet and other resilient crops could offer a more sustain- able and profitable alternative. A Historical Perspective on Food Security Another intriguing aspect of the study is how agricultural choices influence food culture and long- term food security. Professor Rimvydas Laužikas, a Vilnius Uni- versity historian involved in the research, explains: “Natural con- ditions, agriculture, and gastro- nomic culture have always been closely interconnected. Gas- tronomic culture is more inert, meaning that environmental changes first affected agriculture and only later became apparent in the kitchen. Therefore, study- ing these processes is essential for understanding past and con- temporary societies.” For Australian farmers, this highlights the broader implica- tions of crop selection—not just for productivity and resilience but also for consumer prefer- ences and food markets. With increasing interest in sustainable and climate-smart foods, farm- ers who invest in drought-resist- ant crops may find new market opportunities both domestically and internationally. The Future of Australian Farm- ing: Learning from the Past While historical agricultural strategies cannot be directly transplanted into modern farm- ing systems, they offer valuable
and animals. Unlike in temperate Europe where just one millet spe- cies could be cultivated due to the cold climate, Australia could potentially expand millet culti- vation into arid zones that over- wise would have not been used for agriculture. Dr. Michael Spate from La Trobe University com- ments: “My recent research from arid regions of India parallels the team from Vilnius University find- ings – during the Little Ice Age we see a resilient farming response in increased and diversified mil- let cultivation during periods of weaker summer rain. The en- vironment of these regions com- pares well to parts of Australia and millets may play a key role in Australia’s food security”. From European Rye to Austral- ian Millet? One of the key insights from the study is how climatic shifts influ- enced dietary staples over time. “It is due to the Little Ice Age that staple foods such as rye bread and buckwheat porridge came to dom- inate the cuisine of north-eastern Europeans. Warming climates might lead us back to forgotten millet crops,” says Professor Dr. Motuzaitė Matuzevičiūtė. Where wheat, barley, and can- ola dominate the grain industry in Australia, could millet or other drought-tolerant crops become a more significant part of the agricultural landscape? Millet is already grown in parts of Aus- tralia, particularly in Queensland and northern New South Wales, but its potential remains largely
adaptability, resilience, and di- versification lessons. The study’s emphasis on shifting crop reper- toires underscores the import- ance of being proactive rather than reactive in the face of cli- mate change. As Australian farmers seek ways to maintain profitability while navigating an increasingly unpredictable climate, looking to the past might provide sur- prising solutions. Embracing a wider variety of crops—including those suited to hotter, drier con- ditions—could be a key strategy for securing the future of Austral- ian agriculture. The complete study, The Shift- ing of Buffer Crop Repertoires in Pre-Industrial North-Eastern Eur- ope, can be accessed in Scientific Reports here. The European Union funded this research through a Consolidator Grant awarded to Professor Dr. Giedrė Motuzaitė Matuzevičiūtė (ERC-CoG, MILWAYS, 101087964). Dr. Gintarė Bidlauskienė works at Vilnius University’s Marketing & Communication Department, specialising in science communi- cation. She focuses on bridging research with the public through effective storytelling and en- gagement. Contact: gintare. bidlauskiene@cr.vu.lt.
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