New Roots for Fallowed Ground: Developing Sustainable Perennial Grains Agriculture

Dr. Ebony Murrell, an alum of both Illinois Wesleyan University and Illinois State University, will give a talk on “New roots for fallowed ground: developing sustainable perennial grains agriculture.” Cereal grains provide approximately half of the calories we consume worldwide. About 12% of land on Earth is devoted to cereal grain production, most of which exists in what were once highly diverse, perennial grasslands. Annual tillage and replanting have led to soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, and reduction in ecosystem services. How can we rebuild soils and ecological systems in these farmlands while also feeding humans? For more than forty years The Land Institute, a nonprofit organization in Kansas, has embarked on the mission to develop diverse, perennial grains systems. Join Dr. Ebony Murrell, a Crop Protection Ecologist at The Land Institute, as she provides an overview of the research conducted by the Land Institute and global partners on perennial grains systems, and give updates on new and upcoming commercial perennial grains such as Kernza®, perennial rice, and sainfoin grain.