Land Institute
Encyclopedia
The Land Institute is a non-profit research, education, and policy organization dedicated to sustainable agriculture
based in Salina
, Kansas
, United States
.
Their goal is to develop an agricultural system based on perennial
crops
that "has the ecological stability
of the prairie and a grain yield comparable to that from annual
crops".
The institute, based in Salina, Kansas
, was founded in 1976 by plant geneticist
and MacArthur "genius grant" recipient Wes Jackson
and Dana Jackson (who has long worked with the Land Stewardship Project in Minnesota
). Wes Jackson has been the guiding figure at The Land Institute, but he has also been fortunate to have the assistance of leading figures in their fields including photographer Terry Evans, and historians Brian Donahue, Donald Worster
, and Angus Wright
.
Perennial polyculture
systems may have a variety of benefits over conventional annual monoculture
s such as increased biodiversity
, reduced soil erosion, and reduced inputs of irrigation
, fossil fuels, fertilizers, and pesticides.
Using gains made in scientific knowledge and ability over the past few decades, Land Institute scientists are breeding the annual crop plants wheat
, sorghum
and sunflower
with wild, perennial relatives, thus creating perennial wheat, perennial sorghum and perennial sunflower
. They also are working to domesticate productive perennials, including the high-protein Illinois bundleflower
. Since each recombination of traits and selection takes a plant generation, to achieve productive and genetically stable perennial crop plants for use by farmers is expected to take several decades.
In addition to promoting a "natural systems agriculture," The Land Institute is an advocate for rural community
. It sees the former helping the latter, with less reliance on industrial supplies and more value on farmers knowing fields' individual characteristics.
The work of The Land Institute was featured in Michael Pollan
's New York Times best-seller The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
.
The general modus operandi
of developing a sustainable
, high yield, low labor, agricultural model based on the culturation of crop polycultures, developed by The Land Institute forms the substance of the chapter How Will We Feed Ourselves? in Janine Benyus
's book, Biomimicry
: Innovation Inspired by Nature.
Sustainable agriculture
Sustainable agriculture is the practice of farming using principles of ecology, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment...
based in Salina
Salina, Kansas
Salina is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 47,707. Located in one of the world's largest wheat-producing areas, Salina is a regional trade center for north-central Kansas...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Their goal is to develop an agricultural system based on perennial
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
crops
Crop (agriculture)
A crop is a non-animal species or variety that is grown to be harvested as food, livestock fodder, fuel or for any other economic purpose. Major world crops include maize , wheat, rice, soybeans, hay, potatoes and cotton. While the term "crop" most commonly refers to plants, it can also include...
that "has the ecological stability
Ecological stability
Ecological stability can refer to types of stability in a continuum ranging from resilience to constancy to persistence. The precise definition depends on the ecosystem in question, the variable or variables of interest, and the overall context...
of the prairie and a grain yield comparable to that from annual
Annual plant
An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...
crops".
The institute, based in Salina, Kansas
Salina, Kansas
Salina is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 47,707. Located in one of the world's largest wheat-producing areas, Salina is a regional trade center for north-central Kansas...
, was founded in 1976 by plant geneticist
Geneticist
A geneticist is a biologist who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer. Some geneticists perform experiments and analyze data to interpret the inheritance of skills. A geneticist is also a Consultant or...
and MacArthur "genius grant" recipient Wes Jackson
Wes Jackson
-Early life and Education:Jackson was born and raised on a farm near Topeka, Kansas. After earning a BA in biology from Kansas Wesleyan University, an MA in botany from the University of Kansas, and a PhD in genetics from North Carolina State University, Wes Jackson established and served as chair...
and Dana Jackson (who has long worked with the Land Stewardship Project in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
). Wes Jackson has been the guiding figure at The Land Institute, but he has also been fortunate to have the assistance of leading figures in their fields including photographer Terry Evans, and historians Brian Donahue, Donald Worster
Donald Worster
Donald Worster is the Hall Distinguished Professor of American History at the University of Kansas. He is considered one of the founders of, and leading figures in, the field of environmental history; and in 2009, he was named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.-Education:Worster...
, and Angus Wright
Angus Wright
Angus Wright is professor emeritus and one of the founders of the Environmental Studies program at California State University, Sacramento, where he taught from 1972–2005. Wright earned his Ph.D...
.
Perennial polyculture
Polyculture
Polyculture is agriculture using multiple crops in the same space, in imitation of the diversity of natural ecosystems, and avoiding large stands of single crops, or monoculture...
systems may have a variety of benefits over conventional annual monoculture
Monoculture
Monoculture is the agricultural practice of producing or growing one single crop over a wide area. It is also known as a way of farming practice of growing large stands of a single species. It is widely used in modern industrial agriculture and its implementation has allowed for large harvests from...
s such as increased biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
, reduced soil erosion, and reduced inputs of irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
, fossil fuels, fertilizers, and pesticides.
Using gains made in scientific knowledge and ability over the past few decades, Land Institute scientists are breeding the annual crop plants wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, sorghum
Sorghum
Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of all continents...
and sunflower
Sunflower
Sunflower is an annual plant native to the Americas. It possesses a large inflorescence . The sunflower got its name from its huge, fiery blooms, whose shape and image is often used to depict the sun. The sunflower has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads...
with wild, perennial relatives, thus creating perennial wheat, perennial sorghum and perennial sunflower
Perennial sunflower
Perennial sunflower is a new crop being developed by crossing wild perennial and domestic annual sunflower species.Annual sunflower is a major oilseed crop. Genes from wild perennial relatives may increase root depth and mass and extend the growing season...
. They also are working to domesticate productive perennials, including the high-protein Illinois bundleflower
Desmanthus
Desmanthus is a genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family, Fabaceae. It contains about 24 species of herbs and shrubs that are sometimes described as being suffruiticose and have bipinnate leaves. Desmanthus is closely related to Leucaena and in appearance is similar...
. Since each recombination of traits and selection takes a plant generation, to achieve productive and genetically stable perennial crop plants for use by farmers is expected to take several decades.
In addition to promoting a "natural systems agriculture," The Land Institute is an advocate for rural community
Rural community development
Rural community development encompasses a range of approaches and activities that aim to improve the welfare and livelihoods of people living in rural areas. As a branch of community development, these approaches pay attention to social issues particularly community organizing. This is in contrast...
. It sees the former helping the latter, with less reliance on industrial supplies and more value on farmers knowing fields' individual characteristics.
The work of The Land Institute was featured in Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan is an American author, journalist, activist, and professor of journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. A 2006 New York Times book review describes him as a "liberal foodie intellectual."...
's New York Times best-seller The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
The Omnivore's Dilemma
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals is a nonfiction book by Michael Pollan published in 2006. In the book, Pollan asks the seemingly straightforward question of what we should have for dinner. As omnivores – the most unselective eaters – we humans are faced with a...
.
The general modus operandi
Modus operandi
Modus operandi is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode of operation". The term is used to describe someone's habits or manner of working, their method of operating or functioning...
of developing a sustainable
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
, high yield, low labor, agricultural model based on the culturation of crop polycultures, developed by The Land Institute forms the substance of the chapter How Will We Feed Ourselves? in Janine Benyus
Janine Benyus
Janine M. Benyus is an American natural sciences writer, innovation consultant, and author.-Life:Benyus graduated summa cum laude from Rutgers University with degrees in natural resource management and english literature/writing. Benyus teaches interpretive writing, lectures at the University of...
's book, Biomimicry
Biomimicry
Biomimicry or biomimetics is the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems. The term biomimicry and biomimetics come from the Greek words bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate...
: Innovation Inspired by Nature.
See also
- Deconstructing DinnerDeconstructing DinnerDeconstructing Dinner is a syndicated public affairs show which discusses food and sustainable food systems. The show is produced and recorded in the studios of CJLY-FM Kootenay Co-op Radio in Nelson, British Columbia. As of Oct. 2009 the program is aired on 37 campus radio stations and community...
- The Earth InstituteThe Earth InstituteThe Earth Institute was established at Columbia University in 1995. The research institute's stated mission is to address complex issues facing the planet and its inhabitants, with particular focus on sustainable development and the needs of the world's poor...