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Intermediate wheatgrass as a dual use crop for grain and grazing
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The Land Institute is leading a global movement to transform agriculture and secure a sustainable future for all. We’re cultivating a perennial revolution—one seed, one field, one relationship, one story at a time.
Co-founders Wes and Dana Jackson established The Land Institute near Salina, Kansas, USA, as a nonprofit educational organization exploring sustainable alternatives in “agriculture, energy, shelter, and waste disposal.” Students attended classes and lectures in the morning and worked with their hands in the afternoon. The first symbol of The Land Institute was a windmill.
The first Prairie Festival was held on the ranch of artist Terry Evans and her husband Sam same near Salina, Kansas. The event goal was to explore the holistic context within which The Land Institute works, transcending a purely academic discussion to included art, poetry, advocacy, philosophy, and culture. David Brower of Friends of the Earth spoke, then Kansas Governor John Carlin discussed energy, Terry Evans showed a prairie photo exhibit, poets Harley Elliot and Stephen Hind gave readings, and a potluck picnic was had by all, among many other festivities. Read more in this 1979 issue of the Land Report.
Wes Jackson published the landmark book New Roots for Agriculture in 1980. He proposed the radical idea of developing perennial grain crops grown in diverse mixtures modeled on the form and function of native Kansas prairies to produce food and preserve soil. These ideas focused The Land Institute’s future work on identifying and breeding perennial grain crops from wild and cultivated cereals, legumes, and oilseeds, and developing the agricultural systems necessary for them to thrive and be useful to people as food.
The Land Institute officially established the Kernza Domestication Program, which formalized Kernza breeding efforts and signified momentum of the organization’s connection with researchers and institutions worldwide. The Land Institute also established the perennial wheat wide hybridization breeding program to create an economically viable crop for farmers.
While The Land Institute and Kansas State University crossed annual sorghum and S. halepense in the 1980s, the perennial sorghum breeding program formally began in 2003, led by renowned wheat breeder Stan Cox. That same year, the perennial oilseeds program also intensified with breeder David Van Tassel integrating wild Silphium integrifolium alongside other perennial oilseed candidates.
Co-founder Wes Jackson and renowned environmentalist Wendell Berry co-authored “A 50-Year Farm Bill” op ed in the New York Times. This article called upon the federal government to support and accelerate perennial grain research efforts to address issues of food security and environmental degradation.
The United States Botanic Gardens in Washington D.C. and National Geographic showcased the importance of perennial grain roots and soil with The Land Institute agricultural ecologist Dr. Jerry Glover, sculptor Steve Tobin, and Kansas photographer Jim Richardson. These engagements sparked global interest in perennial grain research and captured the imagination of the public.
The first-ever perennial grain product hit the market in the form of a Kernza beer called Long Root Ale from Patagonia’s food division Patagonia Provisions and Portand, Oregon, craft brewer Hopworks. Beer has proven to be the most accessible and consumer-friendly way for makers and eaters to help expand and educate the public on the benefits of perennial grains.
The Land Institute launched the perennial legume program in 2017 with the addition of breeder Brandon Schlautman. The program goals are twofold: to develop new edible, high-protein perennial grain pulses that could substitute for annual lentils, peas, or beans and legume crops that could be grown in diverse mixtures with other perennial grains as a nitrogen-fixing companion crop.
Researcher collaborators in Yunnan, China, with support from The Land Institute, achieved a breakthrough milestone in developing viable perennial rice. The study in Nature Sustainability, documenting a high-yielding, long-lived perennial rice with significant environmental, economic, and social sustainability impacts, proved the viability of perennial grains.
For the first time, The Land Institute sent two official observers to the United Nation’s COP28, the most significant global climate convening in the world, to raise awareness of the critical role of perennial grains as a solution to challenges of biodiversity loss, soil health, food security, and ecosystem resilience.
Nobel and World Food Prize Laureates called for several “moonshot” initiatives to address food security in a changing climate, naming a transition to perennial agriculture as one of their key recommendations. This same year, The Land Institute and CIMMYT, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, co-hosted the 2025 International Meeting in Texcoco, Mexico, the largest gathering of global perennial grain researchers to date in the birthplace of the Green Revolution.
Transitioning from an annual to a perennial agricultural model is the best chance we have to create a truly regenerative future. Perennial crops—like grains, legumes and oilseeds—have extensive root systems that capture and store carbon dioxide, helping mitigate climate change. They require less fossil fuel and fewer chemical inputs. They can repair soil and restore waterways, all while producing abundant food for our hungry world. It all adds up to a healthier, more resilient system for people and planet.
We’re developing perennial grain crops, building resilient farming systems, and supporting innovations that help reverse agriculture’s contribution to climate change.
We’re constantly evaluating the way we allocate our resources to advance what’s needed most. We back research that drives breakthroughs in sustainable agriculture, while supporting the next generation of young scientists, innovators, and leaders.
We’re collaborating with researchers and advocates worldwide to improve food security, enhance environmental resilience, and deliver on the full promise of perennial agriculture.
InspirationIf your life’s work can be accomplished in your lifetime, you’re not thinking big enough.