What Happened to the Old World Plants?

The last wheat, barley or corn planted anywhere in the Land of Promise would have been no later than around 380 A.D., and no doubt much earlier, for the last war began in 327 A.D., when Mormon, at the age of 16, led a Nephite army against the Lamanites (Mormon 2:2). From this time forward, the Nephites were continually being driven northward, and by 350 A.D., had lost the Land Southward entirely (Mormon 2:28), with all Nephites now in the Land Northward, or having been killed by the advancing Lamanites.

There was a 10 year moratorium of peace (Mormon 3:1), before the Lamanites attacked again (Mormon 3:7). During that time crops would have been planted in the Land Northward to feed the people and the army. In 361 A.D., the Nephites defeated a Lamanite army, and two years later they advanced up into the Land of Nephi to attack the Lamanites in their homelands. However, they were defeated and driven back to the Land of Desolation (Mormon 4:3), and over the next 11 years, the Lamanites drove the Nephites continually northward, fleeing in haste where there would have been no time to plant or harvest (Mormon 4:20,22). In 375 A.D., Mormon again took command, but the Lamanites were far too many in number and the Nephites were driven ever northward with those in the towns and villages gathered in or killed by the Lamanites (Mormon 5:5). During this time, the Lamanites burned every village and city they passed, with nothing surviving the Lamanite march northward (Mormon 5:5). In 380 A.D., the Lamanites continued their advance northward and the Nephites were constantly driven before them (Mormon 5:7). By 384 A.D., the last battle was about to begin in the Land of Cumorah (Mormon 6:5).

Obviously, from that time forward, no crops were planted in the Land of Promise. The Lamanites, who were constantly at war, continued their fighting amongst each other over the next at least fifteen years (Moroni 1:2) still going on strong in 421 A.D.

The obvious question is, what happened to the crops of corn, wheat, barley, neas and sheum? (Mosiah 9:9). The corn continued over the years, for it was found in the Americas when the Spanish arrived. The sheum (quinoa) and neas (kiwicha) were also present among the Inca when the Spanish arrived. But wheat and barley were not being grown in 1523.

As an example, corn will grow in Peru along the coasts without difficulty because there is enough good soil and water. In the highlands, the terraced hillsides and valley floors provide a varied environment for the production of diverse crops. Corn will prosper in most places in Peru up to 11,000 feet elevation, and on protected lower slopes will grow to 13,000 feet. In the better areas, corn will produce 2640 to 3520 pounds per hectare (about 2.5 acres). Quinoa and kiwichi will grow at even higher elevations than corn.

In the puna region of Jauja-Huancayo in the central highlands, figures have been obtained to show that the area could support up to 375 alpacas per square mile, with llamas requiring slightly more space. Browman estimates the area could support 125,000 to 1.25 million animals in the Peruvian puna—an area comprising high plateaus and cliffs, where barley, potatoes and maca are grown. Browman also states that this region was first settled by the Chavin, who he says “extended throughout Peru, following the Chavin’s first major expansion of approximately 1200 to 1000 B.C.”

Since barley grows very well in the puna, or central highlands of Peru, and since Zeniff planted barley (Mosiah 9:9) in the central highlands that was the area of the city of Nephi in the Land of Nephi, the question is often asked by critics and historians alike, “what happened to the barley and wheat planted by the Nephites?”

(See the next post, “What Happened to the Old World Plants? Part II,” to see what happened to these plants by the time the Spanish arrived)