Investing in Perennial Crops to Sustainably Feed the World: The Dramatic Increases in Yields of Annual Crops Are Approaching Their Limits. But Similar Advances Are Possible in Hundreds of Underused Perennial Species (Perennial CROPS‪)‬

The world's food supply is insecure and inadequate and growing more so. But that gloomy prospect could be altered dramatically if the world adopted a novel but simple strategy: supplement the annual food crops that will soon be unequal to the task of sustaining us with improved perennial plants such as food-bearing and bioenergy-producing trees, shrubs, forbs, and grasses. Making this shift will not be easy and will require significant additional research. But we believe it is a practical and relatively inexpensive approach that will not only increase food and energy security, but will also improve soil quality, protect water resources, reduce floods, harvest carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]), and provide jobs for millions of people. During the past half-century, the world's population has doubled, increasing by more than three billion people. Fortunately, grain production has more than doubled during that time. Availability of nutritious food at the lowest cost in history underlies whatever peace, prosperity, and progress human society has enjoyed.