Agricultural Research & Scientific Publications - Page 6
The Land Institute’s work advances agricultural scientific knowledge and is conducted in an innovative yet rigorous professional context. Explore our findings and ideas via articles authored or co-authored by members of our staff and published in peer-reviewed journals.
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New roots for ecological intensification
To meet the global food challenge of 2050, and well beyond, there is a growing consensus that farmers will need to produce more food using fewer and fewer chemical, energy…
Useful insights from evolutionary biology for developing perennial grain crops
Abstract: Annual grain crops dominate agricultural landscapes and provide the majority of calories consumed by humanity. Perennial grain crops could potentially ameliorate the land degradation and off-site impacts associated with…
Reflective plant breeding paradigm
Abstract: Over the last half-century, crop breeding and agronomic advances have dramatically enhanced yields in temperate summer-annual cropping systems. Now, diversification of these cropping systems is emerging as a strategy…
Changes in soil phosphorus, perennials versus annuals
To achieve robust phosphorus sustainability in agriculture, it will be necessary to reduce unintentional P losses through erosion and leaching, improve P availability and synchrony, and cycle the P that…
Wild Plants to the Rescue
Efforts to domesticate new, high-yield, perennial grain crops require patience and persistence—but such plants could transform agriculture “You had to spend all those years in graduate school to do this?”…
Perennial cereal crops: An initial evaluation of wheat derivatives
Abstract: This study evaluated over 150 wheat × wheatgrass derivatives in a series of field experiments. The objective was to assess their capacity to regrow post-harvest and yield grain over…
Plant breeding for harmony between agriculture and the environment
Abstract: Plant breeding programs primarily focus on improving a crop’s environmental adaptability and biotic stress tolerance in order to increase yield. Crop improvements made since the 1950s – coupled with…
Perennial Grains: Food Security for the Future
Perennial versions of our major grain crops would address many of the environmental limitations of annuals while helping to feed an increasingly hungry planet. Download PDF
Progress in Breeding Perennial Grains
Abstract: Annual cereal, legume and oilseed crops remain staples of the global food supply. Because most annual crops have less extensive, shorter-lived root systems than do perennial species, with a…
Increased Food and Ecosystem Security via Perennial Grains
Perennial grains hold promise, especially for marginal landscapes or with limited resources where annual versions struggle. Access SummaryAccess Full Text
Missing domesticated plant forms: can artificial selection fill the gap?
Perennial grain crops do not exist because they could not have evolved under the original set of conditions; however, they can be deliberately developed today through artificial phenotypic and genotypic…
Harvested perennial grasslands: Ecological models for farming’s perennial future
Humanity’s unprecedented global demand for farm products poses one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity and ecosystem function. This demand will almost certainly increase as the human population continues…