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Intermediate wheatgrass as a dual use crop for grain and grazing
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Integrating innovative perennial grains into global agriculture systems can balance immediate food needs with long-term planetary health, creating a sustainable and secure food future.
Over the past fifty years, the agricultural landscape has developed immensely, mainly focusing on a select group of annual staple crops to satisfy the ever-growing demand for food. Today, our food systems are shaped by cultivating annual cereals, legumes, and oilseeds grown in nutrient- and energy-intensive ways. While advancements have been made to enhance grain yields, we must also consider the broader implications—social, environmental, and economic—of our food systems. As we step into this new era, characterized by resource scarcity, changing climate, price volatility, global supply chain disruptions, and farmland and farming consolidation, it’s clear that we need a shift in our approach to agriculture.
Farming practices traditionally supported the cultivation of annual crops, which tend to rely heavily on intensive water use, synthetic fertilizers, and tillage, disrupting natural ecosystems and processes. We must transform agricultural technologies, research, and markets to ensure food security for a growing global population while tackling the complex challenges of the 21st century.
Perennial grains—cereals, legumes, and oilseeds—represent a groundbreaking sustainable agriculture opportunity. These crops enhance soil structure, improve water retention, and contribute positively to climate adaptation, mitigation, and ecosystem health. By promoting biodiversity and supporting natural biological processes, perennial crops are paving the way toward a more resilient food production system.
Perennial agriculture isn’t new; it dates back thousands of years to when many food systems thrived on perennial species like fruit, nut, and oilseed trees and shrubs, and animal forages like diverse grasslands. In conjunction with modern breeding methods, we can explore an exciting wealth of wild and undomesticated species for research and interbreeding, led by local researchers, farmers, and community members in regionally adapted and culturally appropriate contexts. By harnessing these diverse genetic resources alongside commercially viable crops, we can create robust perennial varieties with the potential to deliver high yields.
Research on perennial crops has been progressing steadily for about three decades, and the momentum is building. We are witnessing the emergence of new crops like perennial rice, Kernza®, sorghum, barley, rye, quinoa, buckwheat, flax, lentil-like Baki™ bean, pigeon pea, and silflower, among many other varieties. The advances in plant breeding have been impressive; for instance, perennial rice is now achieving yields comparable to conventional annual rice varieties, and Kernza is in food and beverage products across the United States.
As we continue our journey to integrate these innovative perennial grains into global farming practices and market systems, we have an opportunity to balance our immediate and future food needs with the long-term health of our planet, paving the way for a more sustainable and secure food future.
The Land Institute is proud to join more than 150 Nobel and World Food Prize Laureates in signing the Laureate Letter—an unprecedented global call to action, urging investment in “moonshot” agricultural solutions to ensure food security in a changing climate. Of the seven high-impact strategies outlined in the letter, two are at the core of The Land Institute’s mission: the transformation of annual to perennial crops and the diversification of cropping systems to build climate resilience.
