By Jake Christie for Great Lakes Echo.
Broadcast version by Mike Moen for Minnesota News Connection, reporting for Great Lakes Echo/Solutions Journalism/Public News Service Collaboration.

After 10,000 years of domestication, farming and its popularity for use in bread and beer, wheat could have some competition.

Scientists call it Thinopyrum intermedium. Growers call it Kernza.

One of its biggest advantages?

It's perennial.

Perennial crops require less tilling and fertilizer, and grow back year after year.

Kernza has deep roots and excels at soaking up nitrates in soil and runoff, said Jake Jungers, assistant professor in the department of agronomy at the University of Minnesota. And that helps protect water systems.

Those roots also take carbon out of the air and lock it away in the soil, which helps combat climate change, Jungers said.

The Land Institute is a nonprofit research organization based in Kansas that develops crops and cropping systems that benefit the soil.

The organization has been developing Kernza for about 20 years, trying to improve the wheatgrass so it can be an alternative to wheat, said Tammy Kimbler, director of communications with The Land Institute.

The institute works with several universities and researchers across the United States and worldwide.

The Forever Green Initiative at the University of Minnesota works with Kernza, and 15 other crops to improve crop production.

The initiative took a holistic approach in developing Kernza, thinking about how the plant could benefit farmers and the environment, said Mitch Hunter, associate director of the Forever Green Initiative.

The challenges are significant. Kernza yields only about 20% of the grain wheat does, one of the downfalls of having deep roots, said Prabin Bajgain, an assistant professor in the department of agronomy and plant genetics at the University of Minnesota.

Improving Kernza's yield is a focus of his work, but other traits with strange names like shatter resistance and free threshing ability are just as important, Bajgain said.

Shatter resistance is a seed's resistance to breaking from physical contact, or as part of its lifecycle. Free threshing ability is how easily the plant can be harvested mechanically.

They've had some success in developing those traits, but still have a ways to go in developing yield, Bajgain said.

One technology they're avoiding is genetic modification.

Wheat has a several thousand year head start on Kernza, and genetic modification could help to bridge the gap. But it comes with downsides, Bajgain said.

Negative perceptions of genetically modified organisms could hurt Kernza's introduction into fields and markets, Bajgain said.

"You don't want any negative press, especially when these crops are so new," Bajgain said, "The crops are so diverse, we might not need that right now. If I plant 500 plants of Kernza, each plant looks different from another."

While there's a focus on natural breeding practices, researchers use genetic sequencing technology to speed the selection of plants and to keep desirable traits, Bajgain said.

Kernza has already made its way into a few different markets.

Patagonia Provisions partnered with Dogfish Head Brewery and released a Kernza pilsner in 2022 that's available in stores across the country.

Bang Brewing in St. Paul, Minnesota, started working with Kernza in 2016, said Sandy Boss Febbo, the brewery's co-owner and co-brewer.

From its prefabricated construction, and native prairie and wildflower beer garden, to their use of all organic ingredients, the brewery was built with sustainability in mind, Boss Febbo said. So when they had the chance to brew with Kernza, they jumped on it.

Kernza brings a nuttiness, as well as some spice, to the beers it's used in. But its flavor changes depending on where it's grown, a quirk similar to wine grapes that likely stems from deep roots, Boss Febbo said.

A few other businesses use Kernza across the rest of the country and Kernza flour is available online.

In terms of fighting climate change and producing food, it's not enough to just switch out wheat with Kernza, Hunter said.

Part of the Forever Green Initiative's work is a concept called continuous living cover. That means planting crops so there's always something living in the soil.

"We need to bake conservation right into our cropping system." Hunter said, "Conservation should not be an add-on to the way we grow food, it should be essential."

Using perennials like Kernza with winter annual or perennial crops can increase soil and water health, Hunter said.

The Land Institute hopes Kernza can catch up to wheat in terms of availability and surpass it in economic benefit.

"With the rate of technological advances and the kinds of funding and collaborations that are happening now, it should be able to achieve wheat-like yields in about 15 to 17 years," Kimbler said.

"Which, in plant breeding terms, is remarkably fast."

This story was produced with original reporting from Jake Christie at Great Lakes Echo.



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Texas farmers who want to transition some of their land from conventional crops to organics are getting help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Bob Whitney, a Regents Fellow and extension organic program specialist at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, works with the state's Transition to Organic Partnership Program. Whitney said California grows more organic fruits and vegetables, but Texas is making inroads.

"We're number one in organic dairy production, we're number one in organic peanut production, number one in cotton production," Whitney outlined. "The last couple years, we've been number one in organic rice production."

Before crops can be certified organic, farmers must manage their land without using synthetic pesticides for 36 months. So far, Texas has issued 383 organic certificates to farmers. Overall, estimates show Texas in sixth place among the states for organic ag acres.

A report by Statista said global sales of organic food increased from $18 billion in 2000 to $131 billion in 2021.

Supermarket produce labeled organic has been strictly defined by the federal government since 2002, and Whitney noted shoppers pay attention.

"I'll just tell you these other labels that are on foods are not very well trusted, according to research," Whitney observed. "Organic still has a very high trust with the consumer."

He added participants chosen for the program will learn organic practices, business development, marketing and more, from farmers who have already been successful.

"These farmers that we will work with will be paid a mentorship fee," Whitney explained. "They will help these transition farmers with questions, with how-tos; a little bit of pep talking when they need it."

Whitney has found once farmers commit to organics, they don't look back.

"I can tell you that I do not lose organic producers," Whitney asserted. "As I've heard many of them say, 'You know what, I've got kids, and I'd rather know that they're not out there in the middle of something that's been sprayed.'"

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has committed $100 million to the Organic Transition Initiative.


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William Peace University is teaming up with Produce Purpose, a nonprofit organization, to install a hydroponic farming operation on campus.

The new program aims to provide purposeful employment for individuals with special needs, promote sustainable and pesticide-free agriculture, and encourage healthy eating habits at the university.

Matthew Harvey, founder of Produce Purpose, said the program, inspired by his special needs brother, is not only to promote interactive learning but to address a real problem happening among young people.

"The age demographic between the ages of 18 and 29 is seeing the most weight gain in a person's lifetime," Harvey pointed out. "The freshman 15 slogan holds more truth than people really want to admit."

To bring the hydroponic farming operation to life on campus, Produce Purpose will also be partnering with Freight Farms, a hydroponic technology company based in Boston. Plans for the fully automated hydroponic farm are already underway, and the first crop is set to become available for harvest this fall.

The collaboration goes beyond merely providing fresh produce to students; it also creates multidisciplinary educational opportunities for them. Harvey highlighted the program will be accessible to students studying subjects such as biology, interactive design, psychology and special education.

"For example, if you are a physics student and you want to learn more about how different colored light waves can affect the growth of plants, you can see that in the red and blue light wave tech that the container farm has developed and perfected," Harvey explained.

Harvey added the program will hire about three special-needs farmers.


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Georgia farmers are watching a bill that is being reintroduced in Congress for ways to help their farms become more sustainable and less likely to contribute to the warming climate. The Agriculture Resilience Act is making a comeback this year after languishing in Congress since 2019. Its goal is to make agriculture a 'net-zero emissions' industry by 2040. Farming now contributes about 8.5% of U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions.

Lotanna Obodozie, Climate Campaign director with National Young Farmers Coalition, said her group hopes the bill gives farmers more access to the resources they need to increase sustainability.

"Farmers are experiencing a lot of barriers when trying to use or apply for USDA programs, and so I think that is a challenge that farmers could face," she said.

Agriculture is a $70 billion part of Georgia's economy. The bill focuses on assisting farmers in adopting eco-friendly practices, and would fund research into cutting-edge farming methods. The Agriculture Resilience Act has just been reintroduced. Previous bills had no co-sponsors from the Georgia delegation.

The legislation also includes measures to address social-justice issues in farming communities. It outlines ways to support minority-owned farms and promote equitable access to resources like land and water. Obodozie said this focus is needed to bridge gaps in agriculture across the nation.

"One thing that's really important is just how can we make sure that these programs are accessible for all farmers - not just large farmers, but also small farmers, beginning farmers, farmers of color, and other historically disadvantaged farmers," she said.

Some people have suggested adding this legislation to the 2023 Farm Bill, which Congress is scheduled to begin debating in September. In Georgia, over 42,000 farms span more than 10 million acres, according to the USDA.


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