Perennial Agriculture Now: A Global Review of Existing Perennial Staple Crops By Climate Region and Nutrient Profile.

Climate change presents multiple stressors which interact to produce a range of  gradual and abrupt disruptions of agricultural production. The integration of perennial crops into farming systems can help increase resilience to many of these stressors (by stabilizing soil, increasing water and nutrient capture and retention, and mitigating downstream flood risk, among others), and this potential has been reflected in increasing interest in perennial crops in multiple sectors as a strategy for climate adaptation. Scientific interest has been largely divided between the long-term development of novel perennial grain crops (largely for the production of staple foods) and multifunctional agroforestry systems (largely for the production of complementary foods, non-food products, and support functions). Little  attention has been paid to existing perennial staple crops, and their potential for immediate deployment and short-term development to support climate-adaptive staple agriculture. This paper addresses that gap in the literature with a global review of perennial staple crops, identifying key crop species by climate region and nutrient profile. Crops are also described by form/structure,  level of development/commercialization, available yield data, and multiple functions.