International Initiative
The International Initiative is part of The Land Institute’s work to ignite a movement to advance just and diverse perennial grain agriculture globally with the worldwide community of perennial grain researchers and advocates.
What Is the International Initiative?
The Land Institute has been deeply rooted in North America’s central Great Plains for over forty years. And over the last decade, scientific interest in developing and testing perennial grain cultivars has grown exponentially and internationally. Today, The Land Institute facilitates collaborations with more than 50 researchers on six continents and is now launching an initiative to formalize and scale the international movement toward a perennial future.
Initiative Launch and Timeline
The Land Institute began the planning phase of the initiative in the fall of 2020. During the fall, a survey of nearly 100 researchers provided preliminary direction on how the initiative can best serve the international scientific community.
The Land Institute announced Tim Crew, Chief Scientist, as Director of the International Initiative in December of 2021. He is tasked with forming and facilitating a steering committee of international collaborators who will help prioritize the initiative activities over the coming year.
In December 2020, the Food Planet Prize was awarded to The Land Institute by The Curt Bergfors Foundations. This $1 million prize provides anchor funding to launch the International Initiative. Stay tuned for more information about what will be required to realize a global movement’s vision. Join us by supporting this work with a donation to The Land Institute.