The Potential of Perennials The Land Institute’s Quest to Redeem Agriculture through Bio-mimicry

The Land Institute Launching an Agricultural Revolution Developing Natural Systems Agriculture -Mimicking Creation & Ecology Creating Perennial Polyculture - A Regenerative & Sustainable System

A Selective Rereading of History

A New Sacramental Theology

Fall From Grace Agriculture’s destructive consequences 80% of natural biomes are covered with perennials in mixtures 67% of cultivated land are covered with annual monocrops

Fall From Grace Perennials – regenerates annually, a single plant can live many years Annuals – must be planted from seed every year, a single plant represents one plant generation

Fall From Grace Cultivation of Annual Crop Species is “Humanity’s Original Sin” -Wes Jackson, Land Institute Founder & President “That was probably the first moment when we began to erode the ecological capital of the soil… It’s when humans first started withdrawing the earth’s non-renewable resources.”

Fall From Grace “Agriculture is the largest threat to biodiversity and ecosystem functions of any single human activity.” - J. Clay World Agriculture & The Enviornment

Fall From Grace “Cultivation often has a negative impact on provision of [ecosystem] services. For example, cultivated systems tend to use more water, increase water pollution and soil erosion, store less carbon, emit more greenhouse gases, and support significantly less habitat and biodiversity than the ecosystems they replace.” - K.G. Cassman & S. Wood Ecosystem & Human Well-Being: Synthesis

Mimicking Creation Land Institute’s Mission Statement When people, land, and community are as one, all three members prosper; when they relate not as members but as competing interests, all three are exploited. By consulting Nature as the source and measure of that membership, The Land Institute seeks to develop an agriculture that will save soil from being lost or poisoned while promoting a community life at once prosperous and enduring.

Mimicking Creation Natural Ecosystem Function

Mimicking Creation Artificial Ecosystem Under Monocrop Agriculture Petroleum Synthetic Fertilizer Irrigation CO 2 Run-off & Pollution

Creating a New Strain of Wheat Perennializing plants through breeding Could be used to produce perennial wheat, barley, corn, soybeans & sunflower strains Using selective breeding processes similar to those used to first domesticate crops Still years away from implementation

Depth of Root Systems

The Path to Redemption Critical mass of people, energy & resources needed to move perennials forward Talk to farmers Lobby your congressperson Build support among the academic community

The Path to Redemption Take time to spend with nature Think of nature as our teacher See creation as a reservoir of God’s grace When eating or taking communion, think about how your food has been produced and the grace of God that is present in the Earth from which it came

The Path to Redemption Resources On the Web: Search: Perennial Polyculture Books: The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan New Roots for Agriculture by Wes Jackson