Transforming Agriculture, Perennially
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Crop Protection Ecology

Crop Protection Ecology studies how crop management practices and synergistic relationships in diverse cropping systems can increase beneficial insects and manage crop pests in perennial grains.

Our perennial crops, in addition to providing a sustainable grain harvest, have the potential to provide other ecosystem services. Their biomass can be harvested for forage, their vegetative growth can provide habitat for natural enemies, and the flowering perennial crops can provide resources for native pollinators.


Why Crop Protection Ecology?

  • Breeding for pest and pathogen resistance is an important aspect of our perennial grains programs. Plants naturally produce chemicals to defend themselves against insect feeding and pathogen infections. However, the natural resistance of a plant can be helped or hindered by its growing environment and ecological interactions. It is important for us to study these interactions so that we can determine how best to manage our perennial crops so that they can defend themselves.
  • A wide variety of insect species are essential to the growth and development of perennial crops.
  • Perennial crops provide excellent habitat for spiders, centipedes, and insects that feed on harmful insects. The flowering varieties provide resources for native pollinators.
  • Perennial systems help build beneficial soil organisms that defend crops against pests. An example is Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), the symbiotic fungi that colonize the roots of over 85% of plant species.

The mission of the Crop Protection Ecology program is to determine how different crop management practices and synergistic relationships in diverse cropping systems can be employed to successfully increase beneficial insects and manage crop pests in perennial grains.

Our perennial crops, in addition to providing a sustainable grain harvest, have the potential to provide other ecosystem services. Their biomass can be harvested for forage, their vegetative growth can provide habitat for natural enemies, and the flowering perennial crops can provide resources for native pollinators.

Crop protection ecology technician Edy Chérémond makes a weekly sweep to count potato leafhoppers, a common pest for our perennial legumes.

Join us by supporting this work with a donation to The Land Institute!

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Project Team

Ebony Murrell
Lead Scientist, Crop Protection Ecology

Edy Chérémond
Research Technician, Crop Protection Ecology

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