Perennial Agriculture and Ecosystem Services 2019
In the lab

Ecology, Economic Botany, Labwork

Food production is one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gases to the environment, in part because most of the world's food supply comes from annual crops that are very energy intensive to produce. Perennial crops may provide opportunities to reduce the carbon input of agriculture and also allow for greater levels of carbon sequestration. We have established experimental plots seeded with several treatments of native habitat, annual crops, and perennial crops (including Kernza, a perennial grain crop developed by the Land Institute) in order to examine ecosystem services at the intersection of ecology and agriculture. Interns will be involved with processing seed harvests from Kernza and wheat, weighing seeds, and testing them for viability.