Piyush Labhsetwar, Perennial Wheat – Technician Takeover
The Land Institute’s Perennial Wheat research technician, Dr. Piyush Labhsetwar, walks us through the journey plant DNA must take in order to be sequenced to accelerate the breeding program. The Perennial Wheat program at TLI creates hybrids made from crossing annual wheat species (including bread and durum wheat) with wheatgrass species with the long-term goal of developing an economically viable perennial wheat variety in the next 10-20 years.
Perennial Practice 2 – Perceive Diverse Patterns
The Land Institute’s Director of Ecosphere Studies, Dr. Aubrey Streit Krug, takes us into Land Institute research plots to explore the diverse patterns of life growing around us through the perspective of leaves. Pick up a leaf; what do you see?
Sydney Schiffner, Perennial Oilseeds – Technician Takeover
The Land Institute’s Perennial Oilseeds research technician, Sydney Schiffner, walks us through a day in the life of her program. The Perennial Oilseeds team is domesticating Silphium integrifolium, an oilseed crop in the sunflower family, with the goal of having perennial silphium partially replace annual oilseed crops such as sunflower, canola, and soy.
The Land Institute: Ebony Murrell Lunch & Learn
Dr. Ebony Murrell, The Land Institute’s lead scientist for the Crop Protection Ecology research program, discusses her work developing integrated pest management solutions for perennial grain insect pests and diverse cropping systems to improve overall plan health and biological control.
Perennial Practice 1 – Meet the Perennials
The Land Institute’s Director of Ecosphere Studies, Aubrey Streit Krug, invites you to join her for an experiential learning activity to meet and visit with the perennials in a place you love. For Aubrey, it’s Pediomelum esculentum on the Wauhob Prairie. Where did this practice take you, and what perennials did you meet?
The Land Institute: Kathryn Turner Lunch & Learn
Dr. Kathryn Turner, who leads The Land Institute’s Crop Protection Genetics research program, discusses her work dealing with and combating virus epidemics within our Silphium breeding populations.
Edy Chérémond, Crop Protection Ecology – Technician Takeover
The Land Institute’s Crop Protection Ecology (CPE) research technician, Edy Chérémond, walks us through how the CPE team works to achieve their programmatic goals. The mission of CPE is to determine how different crop management practices synergistic relationships in diverse cropping systems can be employed to successfully increase beneficial insects and manage crop pests in perennial grains.
James Bowden, Soil Ecology – Technician Takeover
The Land Institute’s Soil Ecology research technician, James Bowden, braves the Kansas weather to walk us through the research focuses of the program. Working cross-functionally with all of our research programs, the Soil Ecology team at TLI looks at how diverse plantings of our perennial crops can harness ecological processes to supplant the need for commercial inputs like fertilizers and pesticides. By using models of naturally occurring plant communities, TLI researchers believe that previously unattainable levels of ecological intensification are possible with perennial polycultures.
Megan Gladbach, Perennial Sorghum – Technician Takeover
At The Land Institute, perennial sorghum research technician, Megan Gladbach, takes us behind the scenes and underneath the glow of LED lights in the perennial sorghum wing of one our greenhouses, where she shares some background and updates on the program. The Land Institute is currently selecting for perennial growth habit and grain productivity in diverse environments in the United States and several African countries, including Uganda, Mali, and Kenya, with the goal of developing commercially viable varieties that could produce repeated, sufficient grain harvests without re-sowing.
“Where We Are Now” | Bill McKibben | Strachan and Vivian Donnelley Lecture on Conservation and Restoration
2019 Prairie Festival
Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org, author, and climate change activist speaks at The Land Institute’s 2019 Prairie Festival
Stories and Digressions | Wes Jackson
2019 Prairie Festival
Wes Jackson, PhD, President Emeritus and co-founder speaks at The Land Institute’s 2019 Prairie Festival.
Disruptive Energy Futures | Amory Lovins
2019 Prairie Festival
Amory Lovins, Co-founder, Chief Scientist, and Chairman Emeritus of the Rocky Mountain Institute, speaks at The Land Institute’s 2019 Prairie Festival.