University of Manitoba researchers are casting a timely spotlight on a plant that’s been growing in Canada for millennia. Wild rice is the only grain native to our country, yet the elusive commodity is barely known or produced here.

That could change in dramatic fashion now that UM scientists are among a team spanning six continents and 10-plus countries, all looking to revitalize Indigenous crops—including wild rice, or manoomin, as it’s known in Anishinaabe culture.

Partnering with communities, they’re trying to not only preserve culturally significant foods and advance economic reconciliation but boost local food security in the decades to come, says Az Klymiuk, an Indigenous scholar in UM’s Faculty of Science.

“As our population increases and we need to feed more people on planet Earth, we’re going to have to look at optimizing the production of different types of plants,” says Klymiuk. “It’s one of those things we have to do as the amount of available land decreases and our population increases. The math is pretty straightforward.”