Pros And Cons Of Perennialization

Steve Jones, a locally minded wheat breeder, has devoted himself to Washington State agriculture as he tries to answer some of the most elegant questions in biology. (Whelchel, Berman). Jones worries about soil erosion and sees perennialization as a key part of the solution. But as an active scientist and wheat breeder, his attention is focused on the genetic rather than the societal level (Whelchel, Berman). Jones works in the Skagit Valley, a mild and fertile region sixty miles north of Seattle and less than ten from the Pacific Ocean. There are more than ninety different crops from apples to zucchini, acres of tulips in the spring, and these are usually harvested on farms smaller than 150 acres. (Whelchel, Berman) Eastern Washington receives

It would grant greater access to resources because of a longer season, a deeper rooting zone, more efficient use of soil nutrients, viable production on marginal lands, reduced soil erosion, and an increase on wildlife populations. The challenges perennial crops face such as not an immediate impact on the world today makes crop rotation more difficult, water utilization increases, and improving habitat for pests. The cons to perennials do not seem to be significant or a deal breaker. There are other methods to avoid the complications that perennials would offset. The federal science enterprise should pull on this sort of vision and offer funding for some bold long-term projects such as the breeding of perennial crops (Whelchel, Berman). The United States is a large country, and it can meet the expense to spread out a bit of risk across so many fields of grain, especially when the reward is protecting the fertility of those fields for generations to come (Whelchel, Berman). Unfortunately, perennial grains are still a decade or more in the future. However, thanks to the visionary work of the Land Institute, Ed Buckler, Steve Jones, Wes Jackson, and others, the agricultural world is already decades closer to achieving that