Our impact

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 made with Kernza hit the market as in a beer called Long Root Ale from Patagonia’s food division Patagonia Provisions and Portand, Oregon, craft brewer, Hopworks. Beer proves 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.