Kernza Crunch: The race to develop the world’s first perennial grain crop
Release Date: 08/31/2022
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info_outlineHow often do we think about the food we eat and its impact on climate?
A new food product called Kernza® perennial grain is part of a major effort to fight climate change by changing what we plant and eat. But can Kernza really find a place on dinner tables – and in cereal bowls –across Wisconsin? In this episode, we sit down to taste a few samples and learn why changing farming systems is key to helping our climate.
Kernza® is the perennial grain crop from an improved intermediate wheatgrass developed by The Land Institute in Kansas. Research partners in the US, including Wisconsin and Minnesota, and abroad continue to improve the grain.
Thank you to our guests: Nicole Tautges, agro-ecologist with the Michael Field Institute; Valentin Picasso, associate professor of agronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Scott Laeser, Clean Wisconsin Water Program Director
Host: Amy Barrilleaux, Clean Wisconsin
Background Reading:
Agriculture is responsible for 15% of Wisconsin’s total greenhouse gas emissions, and that contribution is growing. Find out how natural climate solutions like perennial agriculture can help – and why they’re urgently needed in Wisconsin: cleanwisconsin.org/natural-climate-solutions
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