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Intermediate wheatgrass as a dual use crop for grain and grazing
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Research collaborators in the subtropical Yunnan Province of China have developed high-yielding perennial rice with early support from The Land Institute.
Rice feeds 4 billion people and is the grain most consumed by humans. It’s the third-largest cereal grain crop after corn and wheat worldwide in metric tons produced.
As a labor-intensive crop with considerable environmental impacts, perennial rice offers the opportunity to reduce labor, inputs, and strain on the environment from global rice production.
With perennial rice on farming landscapes in China and Africa, growers and communities are experiencing a wide range of social, economic, and environmental benefits when switching from annual to perennial rice.
Perennial rice yields are equivalent to those of elite annual rice varieties in China.
High-yielding perennial rice produced grain for eight consecutive harvests over four years from a single planting.
By switching from annual to perennial rice, soils accumulated almost a ton of organic carbon per hectare per year.
Farmers used nearly 60% labor when switching from annual to perennial rice.
Farmers spent almost 50% less on seed, fertilizer, and other inputs for perennial rice than annual rice.
Farmer profits from perennial rice ranged from 17% to 161% above annual rice.
With support from The Land Institute, research partners at Yunnan University in China successfully developed a high-yielding perennial rice, which is beginning to expand onto landscapes in Asia and Africa.
