General Mills Buys Kernza’s Long Roots

The Land Institute, near Salina, Kan.

In 2009 I had the chance to hear Wes Jackson present a keynote reference at the annual Water Conservation and Xeriscape Expo in Albuquerque , NM . He nurse the interview with stories about traditional agribusiness in the U.S. and how those conventional systems were unstainable .

He described the inquiry and ontogeny activities atThe Land Institutenear Salina , Kan. , and explained his goal of developing a sustainable agricultural arrangement that would be as ecologically stable as the prairie . One of the primary task was enquiry to develop a repeated grain that could take the place of yearly planting of wheat .

He thought it might take another 20 or 30 geezerhood to accomplish that goal .

as luck would have it , it did n’t take that long .

Earlier this calendar month , General Mills annunciate a partnership with The Land Institute and the University of Minnesota to commercialize the recurrent grain Dr. Jackson spoke of more than 8 old age ago .

Kernza is the stylemark name for the perennial wheat-grass that General Mills will be adding to its cereals and snacks with the Cascadian Farms constitutional recording label .

This is a fully grown step for the repeated metric grain that grow root 10 feet thick . Because of its repeated nature , the grain can be harvested twelvemonth after twelvemonth without the need for replanting . In addition to eliminating the annual tilling of field , Kernza ’s long roots help the soil by storing nutrients and water while keeping valuable soil from eroding aside .

The research at The Land Institute also indicates fields of recurrent texture can help keep carbon in the soil , with the potential difference to reduce greenhouse gases .

I had the chance to tour The Land Institute in 2015 and saw the athletic field of Kernza growing in the Kansas summer sun . Even then Kernza was being used by small companies to brew the grain into craftsmanship beer and bake into special loaves of bread to take the space ofwheat flour .

But the partnership with General Mills means a broad audience will get to delight something peculiar . People will soon be able-bodied to instruct about the environmental benefits of perennial food grain while enjoy their stadium of cereal at breakfast .

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