Discover Perennials - The Future of Sustainable Farming

Greenhouse Manager Tiffany Durr checks trays of seedlings in the Legume Greenhouse at The Land Institute.

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From plants to crops

To develop perennial grain crops, we domesticate wild species with potential to become grain crops after observing important characteristics like high yield. We also create hybrids by crossing annual grains with related perennials to produce plants with yield traits from the annual and regrowth capabilities from the perennial. We then select the most promising plants to breed more resilient grain crops and test their performance in the field for other criteria like disease resistance.

Key innovations

Steady progress has been made over the years to advance the global movement to develop perennial grain crops with environmental, economic, and social benefits.

High-yielding perennial rice

With support from The Land Institute, research partners in China have developed a perennial rice hybrid with robust perenniality and yields on par with annual rice varieties.

Kernza® breeding accelerated

The Land Institute has pursued methods to double the speed of Kernza development by completing two breeding cycles in one year.

Perennial wheat progress

Perennial wheat research efforts have produced 20 new lines showing stronger perenniality and improved grain yields, even under harsh Kansas weather conditions.

Genetic insights in perennial sorghum

New findings in perennial sorghum genetics offer data into increasing perennial sorghum yield and quality through selective breeding.

New perennial pulse crop

Long term breeding effots with the perennial legume Baki™ bean are catalyzing progress toward achieving the world’s first scalable perennial pulse crop for temperate regions.