Speaker
Description
Food production globally relies on monocultures of annual crop species, which require replanting every year and external inputs, causing soil erosion, climate change, water pollution, and biodiversity loss, and are vulnerable to climate extremes like drought. Perennials provide continuous soil cover and roots, which fix carbon, protect soil health, retain nutrients, reduce inputs, and are more resilient to droughts. Developing perennial grain and forage systems can transform the relationship between humans and the environment by providing food and ecosystem services.
Kernza (Intermediate wheatgrass, Thinopyrum intermedium) is a perennial grass relative of wheat and recently domesticated as a perennial grain and forage crop in North America. Demand for perennial grain food products, like Kernza beer and baked goods, is increasing. In addition, dairy and beef farmers are interested in the high forage production potential from Kernza. As a perennial deep-rooted plant, Kernza is both drought and cold tolerant, which makes it an attractive crop adapted to future Nordic-Baltic conditions under climate change. Several environmental and ecological benefits have been confirmed for Kernza, such as increased soil carbon content (Culman et al., 2013), higher soil community complexity (Sprunger et al., 2019), root biomass (Duchene et al., 2020) and reduced nitrate leaching (Jungers et al., 2019). Previously reported grain yields (Dimitrova Mårtensson et al., 2022) do not contribute sufficiently to farmers’ income, while the large total biomass utilised for feed and forage have potential to add to the economy of the production (Franco et al., 2021).
Kernza has been tested at farms in Sweden, which has pioneered this research in Northern Europe. However, little is known about the productivity of this novel crop at the Nordic and Baltic countries, as well as which agronomic management practices may optimize the grain and forage production. The main objective of this research is to strengthen research collaboration between Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Denmark to explore the adaptation and potential of grain and forage production and quality of Kernza across the Nordic and Baltic region. Our research will test a range of agronomic management questions including optimal N fertilization, benefits of intercropping with legumes, optimal harvest schedule for forage, soil health benefits, and carbon budget. We will engage an international network of diverse stakeholders including farmers, food industry, advisors, and policy makers to explore the feasibility of this new crop in the region. The productivity and management requirements will be used to assess the climate impact of Kernza production systems as compared to annual cereal production systems, both in terms of grain and forage production, to evaluate the Kernza production systems potential contribution to climate mitigation within the agricultural primary production in the Nordic region of Europe (Figure 1).
Figure 1. A. Schematic overview of the VIKING project; B. Treatments in the full-scale Kernza® grain production trials; C. Treatments in the full-scale Kernza® forage production trials
Keywords: environment, forage, grain, intermediate wheatgrass, management
References:
Culman et al. (2013). Soil and water quality rapidly responds to the perennial grain Kernza wheatgrass. Agronomy Journal 105:735-744.
Sprunger et al. (2019). Perennial grain crop roots and nitrogen management shape soil food webs and soil carbon dynamics. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 137.
Duchene et al. (2020). Introducing perennial grain in grain crops rotation: The role of rooting pattern in soil quality management. Agronomy 10:1254.
Jungers et al. (2019). Reduced nitrate leaching in a perennial grain crop compared to maize in the Upper Midwest, USA. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 272:63-73.
Dimitrova Mårtensson et al. (2022) Agronomic performance, nitrogen acquisition and water-use efficiency of the perennial grain crop Thinopyrum intermedium in a monoculture and intercropped with alfalfa in Scandinavia. Agriculture for Sustainable Development 42:21.
Franco et al. (2021) Ecological intensification of food production by integrating forages. Agronomy 11:2580.
| Keywords | environment; forage; grain; intermediate wheatgrass; management |
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