Dr. Evan Craine, Research Scientist in The Land Institute’s Crop Stewardship Program, is one of eleven early-career scientists who received the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research’s (FFAR) New Innovator in Food & Agriculture Research Award for 2024. Evan’s work in perennial grain food science and food functionality supports The Land Institute’s priority to make perennial grains edible, nutritious, and viable within supply chains to support the transition of these emerging crops from the research station to farms and people’s plates. Evan has worked extensively to document the food safety and nutritional quality of perennial Baki™ bean, a perennial pulse harvested from the legume sainfoin, which researchers have been domesticating at The Land Institute since 2016. Both this research and his work to identify the nutritional composition of early-generation Kernza® perennial grain provide foundational context for the organization as researchers, farmers, chefs, food companies, and consumers work to understand how perennial grains can become a staple food for communities globally.