Paying for Perennialism a Quest for Food and Funding: Perennial Crops Hold Great Potential for Long-Term Agricultural Sustainability, Hut Researchers Are Walking Away from Work on Perennials Because Federal Funding Is Too Focused on Short-Term Improvements and Increases in Yield (Perennial CROPS‪)‬

When Wes Jackson looks out across the wild prairie of Kansas, he sees far beyond the limits of his vision. "I'm surrounded by prairie here," he tells us, and the fields of waving grasses and deep roots have shaped how he thinks--about farming, about the relationship between our species and the planet, and about how to live. Jackson speaks with a folksy authority, an assurance born out of decades of commitment to his cause. His words are calm and considered, but an underlying excitement buoys them along. Current agricultural practices are destroying soil, a precious resource that "we treat like dirt," and, unless we change them, this situation will only worsen with time. Jackson believes that perennial varieties of wheat, corn, and other crops that would not need to be planted every year could go a long way toward solving the problem. Perennials could be part of an agricultural system that tries to mimic the natural economy of an ecosystem such as the prairie, with its remarkably healthy soil. But first we'll need economically viable perennial varieties of major food crops, an ambitious goal. Jackson, who is 75, has been working to promote perennial agriculture for 35 years through an organization he founded, the Land Institute. He knows he may not live to see the fruits of his labor, but this doesn't trouble him. He insists we have an obligation to take on projects larger than ourselves. "A lifetime is a narrow interest," he says. His own interest is as wide as his beloved prairies.