"Developing Perennial Grains for Climate-Smart Agriculture".

Climate-Smart Agriculture is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as “agriculture that sustainably increases productivity, resilience (adaptation), reduces/removes GHGs (mitigation), and enhances achievement of national food security and development goals.” Perennial grains would be useful in meeting each of these objectives. Perennial grains have potential for increased productivity by extending the growing season and capturing more of the available resources (light, water, and nutrients). However, the goal of enhanced productivity will only be met through sustained breeding efforts, which have been initiated in the past decade. Perennial grains are expected to have enhanced resilience by numerous mechanisms. For instance, established perennial plants avoid the planting phase, which is particularly susceptible to climatic disturbance. Also, the genomes of perennials are often rich in diverse resistance genes, which will be desirable in an unknown future climate. Perennial plants are inherently superior at GHG removal due belowground biomass and the reduced tillage associated with their culture. Finally, perennial grains could be strategic in achieving food security and development goals by yielding grain, which is inherently harvestable, transportable, and storable, while reducing the requirement for purchased inputs.