. . .

Now for a look at what the followers of Lehi could have brought with them to the Americas in the way of grains: They left Jerusalem in 597 B.C. and journeyed southward and across the Arabian peninsula before setting sail for the New World. This groups could also have brought all the major types of wheat with them: einkorn, emmer, durum, bread wheat, and club wheat. Other grains might above been millet, sorghum, and oats. Grains which they would not likely have brought are spelt, rye, and rice.

The Old World plants which they might have brought with them, with the exception of sorghum, would not survive long on a wet coast. This means that the Lehi settlers must have landed on a dry coast that had sufficient rainfall for the growing of grain, or the landing must have been near a highland area where Old World grains would grow. Of the grains that Lehi might have brought with him, barely and oats were the most likely to survive in a wild state.

We have now identified the grains which the Book of Mormon peoples could have brought with them. It is now time to examine the context of the Book of Mormon to see that it has to say about agriculture and more particularly the grains. The action verbs, to plant, reap, and snow, are generally used in a metaphoric sense. Grain is maintained for both the Jaredite and Lehite periods. In the book of Ether there are three references to grain, and two to tilling and to tilling tools.

The most significant reference to agriculture in the Book of Mormon is Mosiah 9:9, “And we began to till the ground, yea, even with all manner of seeds, with seeds of corn, and of wheat, and of barley, and with neas, and with sheum, and with seeds of all manner of fruits. . . .” Here we have a list of crops being grown in the land Lehi-Nephi about 200 B.C. We know that this city is located in some highland area, as one must go down to reach Zarahemla. I think one can safely assume that the crops are listed in the order of their importance. In the same chapter, verse 14, corn is again mentioned, only this time alone. In Mosiah 7:22 there is another reference to corn, barley and “all our grain.” And in Alma 11:7 a measure of barley is mentioned as being equal to a senum of silver or a senine of gold.

I should interpret these references to grain to mean that corn or maize was the most important food crop of the Book of Mormon peoples and that barley was a second, followed by wheat, neas, and sheum. The identity of the latter two crops is not known at the present time.

We know that Book of Mormon peoples brought Old world cereals with them, and for the Lehi group we know that these grains survived at least as late as 121 B.C. The present question is, can these cereal grains now be grown in the Mesoamerican area Today wheat is grown in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Barley and oats are grown in Mexico and Guatemala. Sorghum is raised in Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras.

To the best of my present knowledge, wheat is grown only on the Central Plateau of Mexico, although it is not unlikely that it could also be grown in the highlands of Chiapas. In Guatemala it is grown in the highlands around Guatemala City, and in Honduras in the highlands around Tegucigalpa and Comayagua. I assume that it is also grown in the highlands of El Salvador.

This supports my theory that these Old World grains, with the possible exception of sorghum, could only have been grown in the highlands, and that shortly after their arrival in the Promised Land both the Jaredites and Lehites adopted corn (maize) as an important food crop. I should even go so far as to say that corn was the staple food crop in all the lands occupied by Book of Mormon peoples, but that in highland areas wheat and barley were significant secondary crops. If this is the case, then one method of identifying highland Book of Mormon cities such as Lehi-Nephi might be to find evidence of ancient cultivation of wheat and barley and possibly other Old World grains.