A match made in food science heaven has the potential to forever change agriculture’s environmental impact.
Long ago, humans abandoned the hunter-gatherer lifestyle in favor of agriculture. They tweaked deep-rooted perennial grasses, turning them into shallow-rooted annual grain crops with higher yields.
But farming came at a price. Domestication of wild edibles set off a destructive cycle of soil depletion.
Seasonal tilling loosened soil particles. Wind and rain carried topsoil away. With it went the earth’s ability to store water and sequester carbon.
In the last 200 years alone, the top 2 meters of the earth’s soil have lost 133 billion tons of carbon.
Soil loss has turned into a big problem for today’s humanoids. Topsoil is at a fraction of historic levels. Storage capacity is dwindling. Greenhouse gases are building, and global temperatures are rising.
No-till agriculture was once thought a solution to soil loss. By planting in the rubble of the previous crop, farmers didn’t need to plow the soil. But many no-till farmers rely on heavy doses of chemicals to control weeds. This, we now know, generated its own set of problems.
But no-till put agriculture on the right track.
Perennial crops like orchard fruit, tree nuts, berries, and asparagus produce food. Because the soil remains undisturbed season to season, these crops are also no-till.
Through photosynthesis, they sequester carbon in the soil for many years. By adding carbon-rich compost before planting and throughout the crop’s lifecycle, carbon storage becomes even more significant.
But from maize to melons, most of today’s plant-based foods are annuals. These dead-within-a-year plants constitute 85 percent of human calorie intake. Yet they offer no long-term carbon sequestration and require tillage year after year.
Compost application may boost soil productivity on annual cropland. But much of its carbon is released with the next tilling, too.
So scientists began to ask:
Is it possible to revert more crops, especially grains, to perennial form? Could agriculture meet this goal without sacrificing yields?
The answer appears to be a resounding … could be. Probably … yes. A cautious … quite likely.
Researchers have gone back through time to marry the characteristics of two crops. One is an ancient perennial wheat-like grass. The other is a modern, annual wheat.
Together, they have produced a perennial wheat with the trademarked name, Kernza. This year, General Mills’ Cascadian Farms plans to produce 6,000 boxes of a breakfast cereal featuring the grain as a research fund-raiser. Though total acreage is still small, other commercial applications for Kernza include bread and beer.
In photographs, Kernza kernels look more like a wild rice (a grass) than a wheat berry. But it is considered flavorful and can be harvested using conventional farming equipment.
Deep-rooted (10-20 ft.), this intermediate wheatgrass grows from a rhizome. It is planted in the fall (in Minnesota). Most growers plant in rows, but solid seeding is also used. Weeds are not a big issue, because as the rhizomes spread, they choke out weeds.
The problem is that the kernel is small, like the yield per acre. Conventional milling equipment doesn’t work. And, currently, Kernza growers reap a meager 500 pounds per acre. Their conventional wheat-growing counterparts get an average of 2,856 pounds in the U.S.
After a few years, those thick, horizontal stems can run out of expansion space, too. Yields decrease. As a result, some growers replant every 3-5 years. At least one farmer is experimenting with chisel plow strips to extend productivity to lengthen the time between replanting. (More cultivation information: Farmers voice their experience growing intermediate wheatgrass for grain)
Worldwide, several annual food crops, including rice, have become the focus of similar research. Perennials for biofuel production are being studied, too.
Minimizing soil disturbance is one reason. The benefits that come with deep-rooted crops is another.
Living plants remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air. They keep some of the carbon (C) and release the rest, along with the oxygen (O2), back to the atmosphere. The retained carbon resides in stems, leaves, and roots. Plants use water and light to turn that carbon into sugars to fuel growth. When plants die and decompose, the carbon becomes a constituent of soil organic matter (SOM).
Deep roots extend the rhizosphere, the zone where roots, soil, and microbes interact. Microbes aid in the transfer of carbon from plants to soil. Researchers say increasing this area could raise soil carbon storage.
Deep-rooted crops are a tool of what has become known as “carbon farming.” The goal is carbon sequestration — removing excess from the atmosphere and storing it in the soil, instead.
Moisture and temperature increases could speed up carbon release at lesser depths. But research suggests deeper soils buffer that carbon from climatic change.
If true, consider the carbon impact of a 20-ft. Kernza root compared to the typical agricultural plant (~3 ft. root depth). To better understand the potential, this article includes an image comparing perennial Kernza and annual wheat root systems.
Estimates of the carbon storage potential of “perennialized” annuals are sketchy, at best. None of the new grains have yet to hit their commercial stride.
Research on deep-soil carbon storage is a bit thin, too. It’s difficult to find sequestration estimates that consider all possible impacts like:
But as food for thought, here are some numbers from recent articles and research papers:
Looks like there’s yet one more reason to bank on perennials — economics.
Agricultural investors say annualized income for perennials rose ~13 percent over 10 years. Income from annual cropland stagnated at about 4 percent during the same period.
And in a few spots, Kernza is generating more profit than the more traditional corn and soybeans. In addition, Kernza leaves and stems remain green at ripening, making its hay more valuable than wheat straw.
Commercialization of annual-to-perennial food crops is a tantalizing possibility. The day may come when “perennial food” labels sway consumer purchases, just like organic, gluten-free, and other profitable food-niche certifications.
But most enticing is this factoid — at $0-$100 per ton, soil carbon sequestration is the cheapest carbon mitigation tool currently available.
It should be noted that soils can eventually reach a point where no additional C can be absorbed. Sequestration is not a miracle cure. People still need to work on reducing CO2 generation.
But in the interim, agriculture offers one opportunity to reduce the human carbon footprint. And compost under foot makes this challenge easier.