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Cultivating the future of farming

Explore our work

Three people working in the perennial field.

Our purpose

The Land Institute leads a global movement to transform agriculture and secure a sustainable future. We develop perennial crops and systems that work with nature to feed humanity and repair our environment.

Our vision

We work for a future in which humanity and nature flourish together as a collaborative system. Where diverse, perennial crops cover our farmlands and build healthy soil, water, and communities.

GLOBAL VISION
This map illustrates what success can be when we realize our vision.

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Perennial Grain Farmers

0

Carbon Sequestration (tonnes)

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Hectares

48,995

Perennial grain farmers

6,815

Carbon sequestration (tonnes/ha/yr)

17,038

Hectares

86,523

Perennial grain farmers

54,800

Carbon sequestration (tonnes/ha/yr)

32,981

Hectares

1,903,022

Perennial grain farmers

684,533

Carbon sequestration (tonnes/ha/yr)

1,081,677

Hectares

184,507,818

Perennial grain farmers

113,782,565

Carbon Sequestration (tonnes/ha/yr)

104,874,172

Hectares

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2025

2030

2040

2050

2100

Learn about why perennials

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What we do

We’re cultivating a perennial revolution—one seed, one field, one relationship, one story at a time.

Spencer Barriball bags a hand-harvested alfalfa plant from a research plot where alfalfa and Kernza are growing side by side.

Crop development

We collaborate with farmers, scientists, and with the plants themselves to develop perennial grain crops.

The Land Institute publishes "field guides" to help citizen collaborators understand the institute's crop breeding work

Participatory science

We collaborate with educators, students, and communities.

Land Institute intern Courtney Tharp harvests alfalfa

Natural systems

We scale the logic of natural ecosystems.

We change the way the world grows food.

shifting-culture-hero

Shifting the culture

We nurture relationships to bring perennial agriculture to the people.

Crop stewardship team visiting Kernza growers, Erik Englant’s. farm called Square Butte in Geraldine, MT.

Future landscapes

We imagine a future in which people and planet can flourish.

Long-term goals

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public & NGO support

By 2050, 5% of global public and NGO support for agricultural grain research will transition to perennial grains.

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perennial grain crops

By 2050, a dozen or more perennial grain crops will grow on global agricultural croplands, including regionally adapted cereals, legumes, and oilseeds.

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global grain crop hectares

By 2100, 60% of all global grain crop acres will grow diverse perennial grains.

Our latest research

October 29, 2025

Bread made from Kernza

Proteins from intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium) and their network in dough compared to wheat

October 8, 2025

Crop stewardship team visiting Kernza growers, Erik Englant’s. farm called Square Butte in Geraldine, MT.

Perennial grains: from moonshot to farmers’ fields

September 22, 2025

Deep learning driven, image-based phenotyping of seed processing efficiency in sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia)

September 2, 2025

A field of perennial crops

Comparative life cycle assessment of perennial and annual crop production: impact of farming systems and management practices

Three stages of Kernza seeds processed from whole to milled

Chapter Four – From concept to crop: Kernza perennial grain is a work in progress

Unveiling the root–rhizosphere environment of perennial wheat: a metabolomic perspective

Silphium Greenhouse

Accelerating domestication of perennial plants with genomics

The undisturbed Wauhob Prairie overlooks the East Bank plant research plots at The Land Institute.

Global terrestrial nitrogen fixation and its modification by agriculture

Intercrop IWG and Alfalfa

Effects of intercropping perennial legumes on intermediate wheatgrass productivity

Kernza, a perennial cereal grain

Productivity of intermediate wheatgrass responds more to local soil and climate factors than fertility treatments in the first establishment year

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