the Land Institute

The institute was founded on {{convert|28|acre|ha|order=flip}} in 1976 by plant geneticist and MacArthur "genius grant" recipient Wes Jackson along with Dana Jackson, who has worked with the Land Stewardship Project in Minnesota.{{cite web|title=The Land Institute Official Website|url=https://landinstitute.org/about-us/vision-mission/|access-date=}}{{cite web|url = http://www.macfound.org/fellows/class/july-1992/ |title = Meet the 1992 MacArthur Fellows|author = The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation|access-date = 2013-07-01}}{{cite book|author=Jackson|first=Dana L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CXXY3yfL7DEC&pg=PA13|title=The Farm as Natural Habitat: Reconnecting Food Systems With Ecosystems|date=1 April 2002|publisher=Island Press|isbn=978-1-59726-269-9}}

The Land Institute promotes "natural systems agriculture" through plant breeding.{{cite news | url=http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/27/q-and-a-farming-for-an-uncertain-future/ | title=Q. and A.: Farming for an Uncertain Future | work=Green Blogs | date=27 September 2012 | agency=The New York Times | access-date=30 December 2014 | author=Shattuck, Kathryn}} Using selective breeding and other techniques, they are working to domesticate wild perennials.{{cite journal | url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/04/big-idea/perennial-grains-text | title=Perennial Solution | author=Kunzig, Robert | journal=National Geographic | date=April 2011 | access-date=2014-12-31 | archive-date=2011-10-05 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005202205/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/04/big-idea/perennial-grains-text | url-status=dead }} The organization's concept of developing perennial crops is modeled after the ecological design of prairies, which are known for their soil quality, deep root systems, and self-sufficiency.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/opinion/bittman-now-this-is-natural-food.html?_r=0 | title=Now This Is Natural Food | work=The Opinion Pages | date=22 October 2013 | agency=The New York Times | access-date=30 December 2014 | author=Bittman, Mark}} In an interview, Wes Jackson called the concept "an inversion of industrial agriculture." Perennial polyculture systems may have a variety of benefits over conventional annual monocultures such as increased biodiversity, reduced soil erosion, and reduced inputs of irrigation, fossil fuels, fertilizers, and pesticides.{{cite journal |last= Simon Moffat|first= Anne|date= 1996-11-29|title= Agricultural Research: Higher Yielding Perennials Point the Way to New Crops|journal= Science|volume= 274|issue= 5292|pages= 1469–1470|doi= 10.1126/science.274.5292.1469|s2cid= 129205776|url= http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/274/5292/1469 |access-date= 2009-07-08}} Perennial crops also show promise in root-based carbon sequestration.{{Cite journal|last1=de Oliveira|first1=Gabriel|last2=Brunsell|first2=Nathaniel A.|last3=Crews|first3=Timothy E.|last4=DeHaan|first4=Lee R.|last5=Vico|first5=Giulia|date=2020-06-01|title=Carbon and water relations in perennial Kernza (Thinopyrum intermedium): An overview|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168945219308830|journal=Plant Science|series=Food Security under Climate Change|language=en|volume=295|pages=110279|doi=10.1016/j.plantsci.2019.110279|pmid=32534616 |bibcode=2020PlnSc.29510279D |s2cid=204160767 |issn=0168-9452}}{{cite journal | url=http://issues.org/28-1/whelchel/ | title=Paying for Perennialism: A Quest for Food and Funding | author=Berman, Elizabeth | journal=Issues in Science and Technology | author2=Welchel, Sarah| date=October 2011 }}{{cite news | url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-Ann-Fineman/post_8522_b_6073760.html | title=San Francisco's Perennial Is Beyond Farm to Fork: A Marriage of All Things Sustainable | work=The Blog: Green | date=30 October 2014 | agency=The Huffington Post | access-date=30 December 2014 | author=Fineman, Julie}} The organization's achievement of productive and genetically stable perennial crop plants for use by farmers is expected to take several decades.{{cite book|last1=Friedland|first1=Andrew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RIIq1r9dY0sC&q=the+land+institute&pg=PA304|title=Environmental Science for AP|last2=Relyea|first2=Rick|last3=Courard-Hauri|first3=David|last4=Jones|first4=Ross|last5=Weisburg|first5=Susan|date=2012|publisher=W.H. Freeman and Company|isbn=978-0-7167-3849-7|location=New York, New York|page=304|access-date=30 December 2014}}{{cite book|author1=Thomas J. Goreau|author2=Ronal W. Larson|author3=Joanna Campe|title=Geotherapy: Innovative Methods of Soil Fertility Restoration, Carbon Sequestration, and Reversing CO2 Increase|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eprNBQAAQBAJ&pg=PR17|date=4 December 2014|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-4665-9540-8|page=17}} Critics note the future economic challenge in profitably harvesting perennial polyculture.{{cite book|author1=Paul B. Thompson|author2=W K Kellogg Chair in Agricultural Food and Community Ethics Paul B Thompson|title=The Spirit of the Soil: Agriculture and Environmental Ethics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uCyIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA124|date=25 July 2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-88442-1|pages=123–124}}

Since 1979, The Land Institute has annually hosted its Prairie Festival, which includes lectures, art displays, tours, and music performances.{{cite web | url=http://www.landinstitute.org/1st-prairie-festival/ | title=The Land Institute Official Website: 1st Prairie Festival | access-date=30 December 2014}}{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/us/prairie-festival-draws-crowds-to-land-institute-in-kansas.html | title=Out on the Prairie, Moon, Music and Lectures, Too | work=Salina Journal | date=2 October 2012 | agency=The New York Times | access-date=30 December 2014 | author=Shattuck, Kathryn | location=Salina, Kansas, USA}}

File:Harvesting Cycle 2 Thinopyrum intermedium.jpg breeding nursery at The Land Institute]]

Kernza, an intermediate wheatgrass developed by The Land Institute, is the first commercial perennial grain crop grown across the northern United States. A perennial grain is a grain crop that lives and remains productive for three or more years. Rather than growing for only one season before harvest, like most grains and annual crops, perennial grains grow year after year. After two decades of plant breeding over 11 cycles, The Land Institute has domesticated a form of wheatgrass whose seeds are two to three times bigger than those of its wild ancestor. Under ideal conditions, it can provide as much as 30 percent of the yield of traditional wheat. They call their trademarked creation Kernza—an amalgamation of "kernel" and "Kansas".{{Cite news|last=Kaplan|first=Sarah|title=A recipe for fighting climate change and feeding the world|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2021/bread-baking-sustainable-grain-kernza/|access-date=2021-11-19|newspaper=Washington Post|language=en}}

The University of Minnesota has one of the largest Kernza breeding programs in the country. Scientists at the University are selectively breeding the plant to improve some of the current issues, particularly those concerning yields. Their "Forever Green Initiative" has attracted interest from large agricultural producers like General Mills and also smaller local food shops like the Birchwood Cafe.{{cite news |title=Birchwood Cafe's pancake recipe with Kernza, a greener grain |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/birchwood-cafes-pancake-recipe-with-kernza-a-greener-grain |access-date=22 November 2019 |work=PBS NewsHour |date=16 November 2019}}

The General Mills brand Cascadian Farm has incorporated Kernza into some of its foods, with the first Kernza cereal produced in 2019.{{Cite news|title=Can This Breakfast Cereal Help Save The Planet?|language=en|work=NPR.org|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/04/13/711144729/can-this-breakfast-cereal-help-save-the-planet|access-date=2021-11-19}} Cascadian Farm agreed to purchase an initial amount of the perennial grain, which is driving farmers to plant on commercial-scale fields versus the test sized plots currently being grown.

Kernza breeding has dramatically increased seed size and production, hastening the timeline of commercialization, and resulting in the release of the first widely-available Kernza product, Long Root Ale from Patagonia Provisions, in 2016. The initiative and investment on the part of Patagonia Provisions to bring Long Root Ale to market led to other partnerships and potential Kernza products becoming more widely available to consumers. Currently, there are a number of restaurants serving products made with Kernza, including Birchwood Cafe in Minneapolis, Cafe Gratitude in the Los Angeles metro, and Avalanche Pizza in Athens, Ohio.{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/perennial-wheat-is-an-ecologists-dream-soon-it-may-be-whats-for-dinner/2016/10/02/0533bb7e-84f3-11e6-92c2-14b64f3d453f_story.html | author=Jane Black | date=October 2, 2016 | newspaper= Washington Post | title=Perennial wheat is an ecologist's dream; soon it may be what's for dinner}}

After the Birchwood Cafe received a 50-pound bag of grain from the University of Minnesota researchers they began baking crackers, pancakes, tortillas, and puffed grain desserts.

Hopworks Urban Brewery in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, brewed Long Root Ale for Patagonia Provisions and has it on tap, in addition to the ale in four-pack cans being sold in Whole Foods in California. Bang! Brewing in St. Paul, Minnesota, has a Kernza beer available, as does Blue Skye Brewery nearby in Salina, Kansas. Innovative Dumpling & Strand produces Kernza pasta that they retail through Twin Cities-area farmers' markets. The Minneapolis based Fair State Brewing Cooperative partnered with Northern outfitter Askov Finlayson in 2018 to produce Keep the North Cold, a golden ale brewed with Kernza.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/05/10/kernza-beer-perennial-grain-climate-change|title = Kernza fights climate change, and makes a tasty MN beer| date=10 May 2018 }}

Since at least 2023{{Cite web|url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/05/10/kernza-beer-perennial-grain-climate-change|title = New Kernza food & drink products proliferate| date=9 September 2023 }} the Weaver Street Market cooperative grocery store chain based in Carrboro, North Carolina has baked and sold a bread—marketed as Kernza Bread—made partially from Kernza flour.https://www.weaverstreetmarket.coop/kernzabread/https://www.instagram.com/p/DCCjjERM4sL/?img_index=4

In 2024 Patagonia Provisions released a line of durum wheat and Kernza pasta.{{Cite web|url=https://www.patagoniaprovisions.com/collections/organic-pasta|title = Organic Pasta| date=14 April 2024 }}

With perennial soil cover such as that provided by Kernza, farmers stand to greatly reduce soil erosion, potentially turning agriculture into a soil-forming ecosystem, much like the natural ecosystems it replaced. Initial research suggests that due to extensive perennial roots, Kernza and other perennial crops may nurture beneficial soil microbiomes. The frequent soil disturbance required in annual crop production is disruptive to these microbiomes.

Deeper and more abundant root systems drive healthy soil. Scientific evidence documenting the ecosystem benefits of Kernza is accumulating. Research from other perennial systems such as pastures and perennial biofuel crops provide robust evidence of the potential benefits of a perennial grain like Kernza.

For example, Paustian and colleagues published in 2016 a paper in Nature titled "Climate-Smart Soils" that compares different landscape management approaches for increasing soil carbon sequestration.{{cite journal | title=Climate-smart soils |author1=Paustian, Keith |author2=Lehmann, Johannes |author3=Ogle, Stephen |author4=Reay, David | author5-link=Robertson, G. Philip |author5=Robertson, G. Philip |author6=Smith, Pete | journal=Nature | date=April 7, 2016 | volume=532 | issue=7597 | pages=49–57 | doi=10.1038/nature17174|pmid=27078564 |bibcode=2016Natur.532...49P | hdl=2164/7569 |s2cid=205248025 |url=https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/24670325/24670049._AAM..pdf | hdl-access=free }} It is clear from their analysis that perennial grains would be a game-changer, as they could sequester carbon and maintain more cropland in production better than any alternative.{{cite web | url=https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2016/04/climate-smart-soils-may-help-balance-carbon-budget | title='Climate-smart soils' may help balance the carbon budget | work=Cornell Chronicle | date=April 6, 2016 | access-date=September 13, 2019 | author=Friedlander, Blaine}}

The Perennial Grains Story Project is a strategic communications collaborative whose goal is to sustain enthusiasm and support for perennial grain polyculture development, and Kernza use in particular, as part of a holistic vision for more truly sustainable food production. The partnership is enhancing internal communications among Kernza users and breeders, while working to create communications products that serve the diversity of partner goals and interest.

The Land Institute's work was featured in Michael Pollan's New York Times best-seller The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.{{cite book|author=Michael Pollan|title=The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qh7dkdVsbDkC|year=2006|publisher=Penguin Group|isbn=978-1-59420-082-3}}[https://www.nytimes.com/ref/books/review/20061210tenbestbooks.html "The 10 Best Books of 2006"], The New York Times, December 12, 2006 The general modus operandi of developing a sustainable, high yield, low labor, agricultural model based on the culturation of crop polycultures, developed by The Land Institute forms the substance of the chapter "How Will We Feed Ourselves?" in Janine Benyus's book, Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature.{{cite book |title= Biomimicry : innovation inspired by nature|chapter= How Will We Feed Ourselves?|last= Benyus |first= Janine M|author-link= Janine Benyus|orig-year= First published 1997|year= 2002|publisher= Perennial|location= New York|isbn= 978-0-06-053322-9|oclc= 51226447}}

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• Plant breeding

{{Reflist|2}}

{{Commons category|The Land Institute}}

• [https://landinstitute.org/ The Land Institute website]
• [https://kernza.org/what-is-kernza/ Kernza]
• [https://www.context.org/iclib/ic14/wjackson/ 1986 interview with In Context]
• [https://www.kshs.org/p/the-land-institute-collection/13779 Kansas State Historical Society page on Land Institute and its archives]
• {{YouTube|id=j12vrJIh0Tk|title=How a new grain could help combat climate change}} November 16, 2019, PBS NewsHour

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Category:1976 establishments in Kansas

Category:Agricultural organizations based in the United States

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