Ecosphere Studies Update
2017 Prairie Festival
A new project of The Land Institute, Ecosphere Studies, update by Aubrey Streit Krug, Bill Vitek, and Wes Jackson as part of the 2017 Prairie Festival.
2017 Scientific Research Reports
2017 Prairie Festival
The 2017 annual Land Institute research updates, including all science staff and research projects of The Land Institute and some partners and visitors from ICRISAT Kenya, St. Louis University and the Missouri Botanical Garden, Kansas University, and University of Georgia.
Framework for the Future | Wes Jackson
2017 Prairie Festival
Wes Jackson’s featured talk at 2017 Prairie Festival: Framework for the Future.
Teaching the Value of Work | Cathrine Sneed
2017 Prairie Festival
Cathrine Sneed of The Garden Project at 2017 Prairie Festival: Teaching the Value of Work, by working the land and growing food.
2017 Prairie Festival Artist | Karen McCoy
2017 Prairie Festival
2017 Prairie Festival guest artist Karen McCoy discusses her art project for the festival.
Urban Agriculture and Rural Agrarianism
2017 Prairie Festival
The Land Institute president Fred Iutzi opens the 2017 Prairie Festival, discussing the theme Urban Agriculture and Rural Agrarianism: Toward a Perennial Future.
Why Farming is Broken (And Always Has Been)
Natural ecosystems are self-sustaining. For at least 10,000 years, humans have disrupted those ecosystems and kept them in a continuous state of disruption in order to feed our populations. Increasingly, the scale of those agricultural disruptions threatens to permanently degrade the ecosphere upon which we depend.
Humans didn’t plan this, nor do we intend harm. And certainly farmers and agricultural producers, along with food consumers, are caught together with other living communities and species in a food and agricultural system that has been pushed beyond its breaking point.
We believe that it doesn’t have to be this way.
Led by a team of plant breeders and ecologists working in global partnerships, we are developing new perennial crops to be grown in ecologically functional mixtures known as polycultures. Our goal is to create an agriculture that mimics many aspects of natural ecosystems in order to produce ample food and reduce the negative impacts of industrial agriculture.
From nutrient retention to carbon sequestration to weed suppression, the agriculture we are bringing to fruition promises to become a soil-forming, rather than a soil-degrading activity.
We invite you to learn more about our work at The Land Institute and how these perennial polycultures are at the heart of the fundamental shift we and our partners are working toward.
The Land Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit research organization founded in 1976 and based in Salina, Kansas. To enable this critical work, you may donate online or contact us at 785-823-5376 to visit with our team.
How To Make Bread That Reverses Climate Change
Our friends and partners at The Perennial restaurant in San Francisco have been tirelessly supporting awareness and the benefits of perennial grains, adaptive polycultures, and healthy soil systems in a very direct way – by making and serving delicious food from Kernza® perennial grain developed at The Land Institute.
The Perennial’s pastry chef Nicola Carey demonstrates how she makes Kernza® bread, from mixing the dough to serving suggestions.
Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, and Mary Berry at the 36th Annual E. F. Schumacher Lectures
The 36th Annual E. F. Schumacher Lectures featured Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson in a conversation moderated by Mary Berry, Wendell’s daughter and the founding Executive Director of The Berry Center. The conversation took place on Saturday, October 22nd, 2016 at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, MA.
The Future of The Land | Fred Iutzi
2016 Prairie Festival
Fred Iutzi, who took the reins as president of The Land Institute beginning on Oct. 1, 2016, explains how he sees the future of our work.
The State of The Land | Wes Jackson
2016 Prairie Festival
Wes Jackson gives a final update to the 2016 annual Prairie Festival and recounts 40 years of innovation, struggles, and collaboration, before introducing his successor as president, Fred Iutzi.
The Land, The People, and a Proper Economy | Wendell Berry
2016 Prairie Festival
Longtime friend of The Land Institute, Wendell Berry delivers the Strachan Donnelley Lecture on Conservation and Restoration at the 2016 annual Prairie Festival in Salina, Kansas.