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Cultivating the future of farming

Explore our work

Three people working in the perennial field.

Our purpose

The Land Institute leads a global movement to transform agriculture and secure a sustainable future. We develop perennial crops and systems that work with nature to feed humanity and repair our environment.

Our vision

We work for a future in which humanity and nature flourish together as a collaborative system. Where diverse, perennial crops cover our farmlands and build healthy soil, water, and communities.

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What we do

We’re cultivating a perennial revolution—one seed, one field, one relationship, one story at a time.

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Crop development

We collaborate with farmers, scientists, and with the plants themselves to develop perennial grain crops.

The Land Institute publishes "field guides" to help citizen collaborators understand the institute's crop breeding work

Participatory science

We collaborate with educators, students, and communities.

Land Institute intern Courtney Tharp harvests alfalfa

Natural systems

We scale the logic of natural ecosystems.

We change the way the world grows food.

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Shifting the culture

We nurture relationships to bring perennial agriculture to the people.

Crop stewardship team visiting Kernza growers, Erik Englant’s. farm called Square Butte in Geraldine, MT.

Future landscapes

We imagine a future in which people and planet can flourish.

Global impact

0

Perennial Grain Farmers

0

Carbon Sequestration (tonnes/ha/yr)

0

Hectares

48,995

Perennial grain farmers

6,815

Carbon sequestration (tonnes/ha/yr)

17,038

Hectares

86,523

Perennial grain farmers

54,800

Carbon sequestration (tonnes/ha/yr)

32,981

Hectares

1,903,022

Perennial grain farmers

684,533

Carbon sequestration (tonnes/ha/yr)

1,081,677

Hectares

184,507,818

Perennial grain farmers

113,782,565

Carbon Sequestration (tonnes/ha/yr)

104,874,172

Hectares

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2025

2030

2040

2050

2100

Long-term goals

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public & NGO support

By 2050, 5% of global public and NGO support for agricultural grain research will transition to perennial grains.

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perennial grain crops

By 2050, a dozen or more perennial grain crops will grow on global agricultural croplands, including regionally adapted cereals, legumes, and oilseeds.

0 %

global grain crop hectares

By 2100, 60% of all global grain crop acres will grow diverse perennial grains.

Our latest research

Kernza, a perennial cereal grain

Intermediate wheatgrass as a dual use crop for grain and grazing

August 11, 2025

Perennial-Wheat-IWG-Comparison-July-2021

Regenerative Agronomic Approaches: Technological, Biochemical and Rheological Characterization of Four Perennial Wheat Lines Grown in Italy

In a breeding plot at The Land Institute, Pheonah Nabukalu shows Prairie Festival visitors perennial sorghum plants under development

Utilizing genetic variation in perennial sorghum to improve host plant resistance to aphids

Silphium Rust

The first chromosome-scale genome assembly of a microcyclic rust, Puccinia silphii

The field of dry grass is burning.

Fire Frequency Driven Increases in Burn Heterogeneity Promote Microbial Beta Diversity: A Test of the Pyrodiversity-Biodiversity Hypothesis

Intern Belle Furman harvests silphium in an intercrop field at The Land Institute.

Intercropping Alters Phytochemicals Associated With Insect Herbivory

At twilight, artificial light glows at the Land Institute's new South Greenhouse, completed in 2018.

A study of the vernalisation requirements of mountain rye ( Secale strictum syn. S. montanum ) may help explain low grain yields of perennial cereals compared to wheat

Intermediate wheatgrass & alfalfa intercrop on east bank, looking east.

Putting the P(ee) in perennial agriculture: Reflections on a workplace urine reclamation project

Intercrop-IWG-and-Alfalfa-Crews

Modeling carbon allocation strategies for high-yielding perennial crops

The 13th season of PR23 in Xinping-Yunnan

Perennial rice – An alternative to the ‘one-sow, one-harvest’ rice production: Benefits, challenges, and future prospects

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