Land Institute

• DATE: Established 1976

Through its Natural Systems Agriculture, the Land Institute seeks to make conservation a consequence of agricultural production by returning to natural and diverse perennial grain crops, as opposed to single species annual crops. Its mission is to improve food and fiber security, lessen soil erosion, reduce dependency on and pollution caused by fossil fuels and toxic chemicals, and enhance sustainable agriculture based on ecosystems that existed before industrialized agriculture.

Background

Globally, the demand for and production of food continue to increase, and major grain crops, such as wheat and corn, make up more than two-thirds of the human caloric intake. Plant geneticist Wes Jackson believed that the best agricultural practices are not being used to produce these grains. As a result, current methods of agricultural production may not be sustainable in the future because of their negative impact on global ecology. Among these practices are overreliance on nonrenewable resources such as fossil fuels. In addition, growing single-species annual crops, especially in areas that are not suitable for their production, causes serious soil and depletion of nutrients from the soil because of tilling. This loss in soil and nutrients ultimately results in reduced production. Moreover, toxins, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides necessary to sustain nonnative, annual, single-species crops are increasingly being found in human tissues.

In 1976, Jackson left a tenured teaching position at California State University, Sacramento, to create the Land Institute, which has become a globally recognized model of sustainable agriculture. With his wife, Dana, Jackson founded the Land Institute for the purpose of performing sustainable agriculture research and breeding plants that would have the ecological stability of native, perennial prairie plants but would yield grain in amounts comparable to annuals.

Extremely critical of industrialized agriculture, Jackson sought to explore the possibilities of “perennial polyculture” as an alternative to the growing and harvesting of annual grains. One of his primary concerns was to halt the soil erosion that he believed was exacerbated by or single-species agriculture techniques and that he believed would eventually lead to a crisis in American agriculture.

The Jacksons established the Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, on a minimal budget, constructing the institute’s building themselves. Although sustainable agriculture was the main purpose of the facility, early experiments involved testing wind power and using hay bales to construct houses. In 1980, Jackson published a book entitled New Roots of Agriculture that argued against agricultural practices that have been ongoing for more than ten thousand years, because of his belief that they are not sustainable. Jackson proposed a new form of agriculture based on natural ecosystems, which became known as Natural Systems Agriculture. Natural Systems Agriculture, as practiced on the Kansas prairie, involves the growing of diverse perennial plants to prevent depletion and erosion of the soil and destruction of the ecosystem.

The Land Institute consists of a 111-acre nonprofit research and education facility for a small number of students. The Land Institute utilizes the natural, surrounding prairie land for and agronomy research and observation. The main research facility at the Land Institute is a large greenhouse. In-house scientists, including breeders and agroecologists, work with ten to twelve graduate students who receive fellowships to participate in the institute’s research programs. The students also work on the institute’s farm while completing an intensive, alternative education program. These students develop into informed multidisciplinary leaders who are dedicated to building a sustainable agriculture and integrating it into a sustainable society.

The research that takes place at the Land Institute involves breeding prototype plants from native edible perennial grains. Scientifically, the Land Institute has shown that producing perennial, edible grain crops is feasible. The goal of the institute is to one day make these grain crops commercially feasible.

Although sustainable perennial agriculture may not be available until 2030 or later, the Land Institute has made great strides in developing some of the following crops: perennial wheat varieties, drought-hardy grain sorghum, the prairie legume known as Illinois bundleflower, and a perennial species of sunflower. In the future, the Land Institute hopes to breed additional perennial grain species from crops such as rice, flax, maize, and chickpeas. The Land Institute has collaborated with many public institutions to carry out its Natural Systems Agriculture research in locations other than the Land Institute facility. The institute shares its research willingly and distributes perennial parent seeds freely, with the objective of supporting scientists conducting related research worldwide.

Impact on Resource Use

Jackson, through his agricultural practices at the Land Institute, seeks to develop what he refers to as an ecological agriculture, or a marriage between ecology and agriculture. This ecological agriculture involves the production of multiple plant species rather than just one and the planting of perennial rather than annual grain crops. Significant challenges include breeding perennials with increased seed yields and with heads of grain that resist shattering, as wild grains typically release their seeds if knocked. The Land Institute supports research mainly in two areas: perennial grain crop production, through breeding and nurturing of new major grain crops and domestication of wild perennials, and diversification of grain crops to achieve more efficient use of nutrients and water, enhance pest and disease control, and increase productivity.

The Land Institute has several programs that seek to develop sustainable agriculture and prosperous, enduring human communities. These programs include Perennial Grain Cropping Research, the Energy Project, and Sunshine Farm Research. In addition, the Land Institute offers short courses to scientists and nonfarmers and conducts seasonal festivals for the purpose of educating others about its Natural Systems Agriculture. The Land Institute’s “Land Report” and numerous other educational outreach projects, such as its Prairie Writer’s Circle, help promote the institute’s mission, demonstrate the resilience and of natural systems, and explain how natural ecosystems apply to agriculture and human communities.

The purpose of the Perennial Grain Cropping Research program is to breed and nurture perennial prototypes of annual grain crops that do not require tilling, chemicals, or pesticides. This program’s dual goals are to supply humanity’s food needs while conserving resources and eliminating toxins. Both plant breeders and agroecologists work in this program.

The Climate Energy Project (CEP) came about after a serious drought in Salina, during which the local river went dry. The CEP, now located in Lawrence, Kansas, has many purposes, including public outreach and education about climate and energy conservation. The CEP is also involved in climate change and renewable energy research. The CEP maintains a website that provides educational materials.

The Sunshine Farm Research Program seeks to respond to the fundamental and underlying question concerning the Land Institute’s Natural Systems Agriculture: Can this new form of agricultural production based on a perennial polyculture be profitable for the small farmer? One purpose of this ten-year program has been to model a farm based on Natural Systems Agriculture. The model farm uses renewable energy, including Sun power, wind power, photoelectric cells, and other natural sources that can be generated on the farm rather than using fossil fuel. Further reductions in fossil fuel use are achieved by using refined soybean oil rather than diesel fuel in farm equipment and returning to draft horses for some of the farm work. In addition, soil erosion is reduced by raising hybrid perennial crops rather than annuals, and toxic chemical use is mitigated through planting of genetically diverse grain crops that are pest resistant. The Sunshine Farm Research Program also involves comparison of energy, materials, and labor data from a 20.2 farm raising conventional crops with the same data from a 40.5 hectare perennial grain pasture for cattle grazing. The data will assist in the affordability and sustainability analyses of the new farming techniques.

The potential for sustainable agriculture is important. The Land Institute plans to continue research into such diverse areas as biofuel and ethanol production and how they may impact future food production, the use of crop biomass for synthetic organics, community-scale farmer cooperatives, alternative energy strategies, and perennial grain breeding. The Land Institute also had proposed to study ecological community development, as opposed to conventional economic development, in Matfield Green, Kansas. However, the institute sold its properties in Matfield Green. People may visit the Salina facility, which includes prairie flora and herb gardens and an area of virgin tall-grass prairie, containing more than two hundred naturally growing species. Other displays at the Salina facility concern alternative energy and environmental strategies.

Bibliography

Jackson, Wes. New Roots for Agriculture. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985.

Jackson, Wes. “The Next Forty-nine Years.” Public Library Quarterly 27, no. 2 (2008): 167-173.

"Purpose and Values." The Land Institute, landinstitute.org/about-us/vision-mission/. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024.

Richards, Donald. “Economics and ’Nature’s Standard’: Wes Jackson and the Land Institute.” Review of Radical Political Economics 41, no. 2 (2009): 186-195.

"A Snapshot of The Land Institute: 2022-2023." The Land Institute, 17 May 2023, landinstitute.org/a-snapshot-of-the-land-institute-2022-2023/. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024.