Power to Perennials (USA)
Perennial grains have the power to transform our agriculture into a healthy ecosystem that nourishes the soil, stores CO2, and produces food.
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Pasta made of Kernza, Ivar reads. We’re in the Patagonia store in Baltimore and in his hands he is holding a box of pasta made from a special type of grain. Kernza is a perennial grain, meaning it grows back year after year without replanting. Could it revolutionize agriculture?
Let’s Call Kansas
The non-profit organization which developed Kernza is named The Land Institute. It is headquartered in Kansas, too far away from Baltimore to visit, so we arrange a video call with Tim Crews. He is the Land Institute’s Chief Scientist and Director and kicks off our call by pointing out the disadvantages of our current agricultural model.
“Our modern crops, such as wheat, corn, rice, legumes and oilseeds, are annual plants. It means that each year, the crops have to be replanted and the soil has to ploughed,” Tim explains. “That disrupts soil life and increases the risk of erosion. Annual crops are primarily planted as large-scale monocultures, which require synthetic fertilizers and agricultural poisons like pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. Those are often made from fossil fuels and can leak into rivers and pollute drinking water supplies.”
“What’s more, annual plants extract a lot of nutrients from the soil, as they have to do everything in a single season. In the first years after clearing the original vegetation, the soil is still very fertile, but as annual plants give virtually nothing back to the soil, over time they deplete it.”
Nature’s Blueprint
What’s the solution? Tim’s answer is simple: “We try to learn from nature. Look closely and you’ll see a great diversity of trees and perennials in natural ecosystems. Monocultures of annual crops don’t occur in nature. That’s because diversity ensures balance in an ecosystem and better protection against diseases and insect infestations.”
“So, the first step is to combine crops. Species that need less sunlight can grow under light-hungry crops. Natural fertilizers, like legumes, deposit nitrogen in the soil, which all plants need to grow.”
Perennials work well in these diverse settings, Tim points out. “As perennials don’t die after their first flowering they develop deeper roots. Roots interact with the soil, which contains countless insects, fungi, and microbes. Deeper roots have more interaction with the soil and store more carbon, which the plants make from CO2 that they remove from the atmosphere.”
Less Work, More Sustainability
Another compelling advantage of perennial agriculture is efficiency. “Perennials produce fruits and seeds year after year,” Tim explains. “With annual crops, farmers are constantly working to clear existing vegetation before sowing grain. Ploughing and weeding are labor-intensive. It’s no surprise that for 10,000 years, humanity has relied on others for this work: animals, enslaved people, and now fossil fuels and agricultural poisons.”
Tim is hopeful: “If we succeed in integrating diversity and perennial crops into grain cultivation, our agriculture can transform from a problematic sector into a healthy, sustainable ecosystem that nourishes the soil, stores carbon, and produces food.”
Creating Tomorrow’s Crops
We listen in awe but remain skeptical. We understand that perennials exist in nature but that none of them are grains. The Land Institute develops them and employs two main strategies, Tim explains.
“We domesticate wild species, as we did with Kernza,” Tim explains. “We select for desired traits, such as larger seeds that don’t immediately fall to the ground after flowering. We also look for simultaneous pollination and seed ripening. Though we use modern techniques, we still work generation by generation. It takes decades, but we’re making steady progress.”
The second approach is hybridization: “We take an existing annual crop, like high-yielding wheat or sorghum, and cross it with a perennial species from the same family. Cross-pollination isn’t always successful – it’s like rolling dice – but when it works, progress is much faster.”
“Isn’t that dangerous for human health or ecosystems?” Ivar asks.
Tim notes that everything we eat today has been developed by humans over millennia. “Today, every new crop undergoes rigorous testing before approval. It’s an extensive scientific process that focuses on food safety. The ecosystem risks present a more complex challenge. We test and monitor those too. However, I believe the environmental problems caused by current agricultural practices far outweigh any potential risks from new perennial species.”
Global Momentum
The movement to develop more perennial grains is gaining traction worldwide. “As problems with annual crops increase, more people seek solutions,” Tim notes. “We collaborate with international universities and partners. These days, Kernza is planted globally and continues to evolve. In China, remarkable success has been achieved with perennial rice that yields eight consecutive harvests with high, stable output.”
Seeing is Believing
To witness these principles in action, we visit Piyush Labhsetwar, the director of a community farm in Massachusetts, Grow Food Northampton. Walking through fields that border a stream, Piyush explains: “This area flooded four times last year alone. No one wants to farm here, making it perfect for my experiment.”
“I planted Kernza two years ago,” he continues. “The long roots help the plants withstand floods and prevent soil erosion. They retain water longer and accumulate more nutrients, as the plants slow down the flooding water. That causes the water to deposit nutrients here. My plants have also survived dry periods, again thanks to their longer roots.”
We observe tall, healthy, robust grass. Kernza demonstrates resilience to extreme weather events, which are intensifying and becoming more frequent with climate breakdown.
When asked about productivity, Piyush is candid: “I estimate that Kernza yields about a third of high-yielding annual grain. Without premium pricing, it’s not yet economically viable if you only consider financial returns. However, after planting, I only needed to harvest. No artificial fertilizers, agricultural poisons, or weeding required. The established Kernza plants outcompete weeds naturally.”
To enhance diversity, Piyush has planted fruit trees. Once mature, they will provide shade and protect Kernza from heat and drought. He shares his insights with The Land Institute.
Challenges Ahead
Despite promising results, challenges remain, in particular with regard to funding and achieving fast results. According to Tim, “Private seed companies view our movement as threatening their business model, as do producers of artificial fertilizers and agricultural poisons. As a result, they don’t invest in our research. In addition, it takes considerable time to develop perennial plants, especially those that achieve high yields.”
Farmer adoption presents another hurdle: “Farmers know their current methods, and innovation can be daunting. However, the economics of farming are changing, which is shifting perspectives. Since the war in Ukraine, nitrogen fertilizer costs have soared. When legumes are used to bind nitrogen, nitrogen is almost free. Other economic advantages include avoiding annual seed purchases and reducing tractor use.”
Consumer Power
Of course, no farmer plants crops that don’t sell. In other words, consumers play a crucial role in accelerating adoption by seeking alternatives, like Kernza. Indeed, several U.S. breweries and bakeries already use perennial grains, and in Asia, perennial rice feeds many. With growing consumer demand, perhaps soon we’ll see expanding fields of perennial grains, surrounded by diverse trees and species. It’s a vision of agriculture that works together with nature rather than against it.
Back aboard our boat, Ivar prepares a dish of Kernza pasta. It has excellent texture and taste, which is no doubt enhanced by our knowledge that the plant enriched the soil for years while also absorbing atmospheric CO2. Will you contribute to the agricultural revolution that perennials could bring, too?
