Hi all, please check the claims of point 8 here. I'm leaving it on a speculative note because I'm not sure how successful perennial grains are yet. Anyone had success, or know of successful implementation of perennial grains? https://eclipsenow.wordpress.com/replenish-the-soil/ Another subject: anyone seen crop & cow rotation implemented well? I'm imagining the benefits of Polyface farming cow rotating systems around the farm for a number of years or decade, then the land being switched to crops. Anyone seen anything like that? Thanks.
I do not till, ever anymore. I have grown buckwheat & rye, both of which after harvest were chop & dropped. It's all about making the soil healthier which in turn makes the animals & plants healthier. It really is that simple.
Wot like Oaks and honey locust ? Or specially bred perennial Grains?? I love the way buck wheat melts into the soil!
I haven't found any that are available to the public. This article talks about hybridization and genes, which leaves this area wide open to GMOs. The phrase 'being developed" should make us skeptical about how plants came to be "Obstacles to the Development of Perennial Crops "Perennial grains have developed over millennia with strong traits which direct much of the plant’s energy into root development. Engineering perennial grains to produce large seeds, while retaining strong root growth, is a big challenge to agricultural scientists. The development of high yield perennials requires hybridization, genetic research and generations of successive plantings." "Earlier attempts to perennialize grain crops have fallen short of expectations, in part because the measure for success was the yield comparison of perennials versus annuals, without taking into consideration the environmental benefits of perennial cultivation. But even taking these benefits into consideration, yields from perennial crops need to be boosted to the approximate level of annual crops before producers can be expected to forego lucrative yields from annual crops and switch to planting perennial crops." "Recent advances in plant breeding and computational ability, however, offer researchers new opportunities to develop high-yield perennials. Plant breeders can use genetic modification to introduce new genes, to modify existing genes, or to interfere with gene expression in specific cases." https://eartheasy.com/blog/2011/05/...-produce-food-with-less-environmental-impact/ ------------- This thread at Permies talks about some issues involving perennial grain https://www.permies.com/forums/posts/list/40/1316 ----------- This article talks about Kernza from the Land Institute, that as of 2013 it was not available to the public: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Land_Institute#Kernza
There is another reason why in Australia a lot of farmers would not go in for perennial grains. That is a lot of grain farming is in areas where the rainfall is not high enough to support a perennial plant. In summer the perennial would die. There are not many perennial grasses that can grow at low rainfall, annuals can grow well on winter rain & then seed to get themselves through the dry summer. I am at the moment trying to find perennial grasses for my pasture & it is very limited at my rainfall of 350mm. So sometimes it isn't the farmers fault that they farm the way they do
I see perennial grains as a bit of a solution looking for a problem. Annual monocultures are problematic only because they are linked to excess soil clearing and ploughing, and pest and disease outbreaks. The monocultures only exist because they allow machinery to make harvest more time efficient (nowdays by machines on massive scales, but also historically on smaller scales with hand tools like scythes). Perennial grains solve part of the problem, but only if machines keep being used indefinitely for growing and harvesting, something that is unlikely in the long term with peak oil unfolding. If you want perennial staple crops then go for trees- most climates have productive nut trees that are more compatible with polycultures and hand harvesting. Annuals can still be used on a smaller scale with human power techniques.
This link may help https://www.ancientcerealgrains.org/ Also have you looked into Amaranth or Quinoa?
some perennials are adapted to low rainfall by going dormant, many of the short prairie grasses will do this. it may appear that they are dead, but they are just waiting for the next rains to grow again.
This book has been interesting to deal with some perrenial foods, so I have a better understanding. https://www.nap.edu/catalog/1398/lost-crops-of-the-incas-little-known-plants-of-the
Peak oil does not equal peak energy. Breeder reactors eat nuclear waste, and could convert today's nuclear 'waste' (actinides) into about 500 years of energy. With such a high EROE, nuclear power can provide all the energy we need to cook up whatever synfuel we want, whether synthetic diesel, splitting water for hydrogen, charging Elon Musk's (exponentially growing) Tesla EV's, or even boron metal powder. (Don't laugh, James Hansen himself has said this idea is credible). https://eclipsenow.wordpress.com/recharge/ So, because I am 'nuclear green' I'm trying to find the right way to do *Industrial Strength* permaculture or biofarming. Perennial grains seemed like a good idea.