Perennial Wheat: A Multipurpose Cover Crop for the Midwest.

Perennial grains are under development to provide a new type of cover crop, one that provides multiple services on a farm. Examples now being tried out in Michigan include perennial wheat and intermediate wheat grass, two perennial grains that have been shown to improve soil quaility and water quality, in conjunction with modest amounts of products that can be sold or used on the farm. Early findings from a field experiment in southwest Michigan has shown that perennial wheat can produce about 50% of annual wheat grain yields and has some potential for spring forage production. The perennial vigor of the perennial wheat  crop is not yet strong, and genetic improvement is needed. However, we have observed increases in environmental services, particularly from new lines of perennial intermediate wheatgrass, and these include: 1) Water and soil quality from extended soil cover with living vegetation; 2) Long duration of growth to provide modest amounts of grain and forage for livestick production, and 3) root growth that supports soil biology and builds organic matter pools.