
Perennial Crops - Breadmaker
https://www.forevergreen.umn.edu/
======
nerdponx
From the Vision page
([https://www.forevergreen.umn.edu/about/vision](https://www.forevergreen.umn.edu/about/vision)):

 _Minnesota has 27 million acres of farmland, occupying nearly half the 55.6
million acres in the state. Two highly productive and profitable crops, corn
(8.7 million acres planted in Minnesota in 2012) and soybean (7.1 million
acres) are the foundation of our agriculture, along with other important
production systems such as animal agriculture, small grains, horticultural
crops and others. The proposed initiative aims to build on these strengths by
adding to the productivity and profitability of our current agriculture._

 _Most of our current crops are ‘summer-annuals’ that are grown during the
summer. By selectively adding winter-annual and perennial crops to our
agricultural landscapes to create new crop production systems, we can enhance
the prosperity of Minnesota agriculture, support rural communities, and
provide major benefits to all Minnesotans. A strong base of evidence indicates
that these new production systems will enhance yields of our summer-annual
crops, enable production of new commodities, enhance our soils and wildlife,
and improve our water resources. All of these benefits are possible because
perennial and winter-annual crops are active during a large portion of each
year, including many periods in fall, winter and spring when summer crops are
absent._

 _For this reason, perennial and winter-annual crops—working in tandem with
summer annuals—can capture solar energy, water and nutrients with very high
efficiency._

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gdubs
This is exciting to see on the front page. If anyone’s looking for more in
depth reading on the subject, I highly recommend Mark Shepard’s book,
“Restoration Agriculture”. In it he gives a good overview of farming with
perennials, and why it can be beneficial for the planet.

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2sk21
I agree - we will need to adopt permaculture on a wider scale in the future to
survive climate change. I will definitely check out the book you have
mentioned.

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ptah
I am currently doing free osu intro to permaculture course and perennials are
much preferred over annuals in permaculture as there's less soil erosion and
less overhead and less work!

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simonebrunozzi
What's "free osu intro" ?

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mgsouth
Oregon State University "Intro to Permaculture"

[https://open.oregonstate.edu/courses/permaculture/](https://open.oregonstate.edu/courses/permaculture/)

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mobilemidget
(non native English) How does that work when you learn a new word and then you
see it everywhere in the following future time?

I scanned a color yesterday, it said, perennial color (I just wanted to
determine if it was green or yellow). Googling it did not make it much clearer
but I now know it has to do with plant colors :)

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nerdponx
_plant colors_

That's unfortunately not correct. A "perennial" plant grows back every year
and does not need to be planted again. An "annual" plant needs to be planted
every year.

The word "perennial" comes from the Latin "per annum", meaning "through the
year", in the sense that the plant does not die part-way through. The word
"annual" also comes from the Latin "annum", in this case meaning that it needs
to be re-planted "annually", i.e. "yearly".

[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/perennial#Adjective](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/perennial#Adjective)

As a native speaker, whenever I encounter a word I don't know, I find it
helpful to look up its etymology, which helps me remember what it means:
[https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=perennial](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=perennial)

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mobilemidget
thanks, been very informative. I'm still a bit puzzled how perennial relates
to a color, the app literally stated 'perennial color'

in the end, I settled on green :)

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nerdponx
Can you give more context? It could be metaphorical.

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mobilemidget
it's a pair of jeans of my daughter, her mother said, have her wear the yellow
pants... I spend hour searching and I found a pair of lime green pants :)

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bayareanative
Isn't Silphium extinct or are they referring to another fennel-like species?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphium)

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pygy_
[http://forevergreen-umn.info/17FG-Silphium.pdf](http://forevergreen-
umn.info/17FG-Silphium.pdf)

 _> Silphium integrifolium—rosinweed—is in the early stages of domestication
to become a part of diverse, sustainable, and productive cropping systems that
will protect Minnesota soil and water resources by providing continual cover
of the landscape. Silphium is a relative of annual sunflower and is a native
forb in the tallgrass prairie region of the U.S._

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rudolph9
A similar initiative is The Land institute
[https://landinstitute.org/](https://landinstitute.org/) They actually just
got one of the crops they’ve been working with into a cereal.

It’s seems like crops that better perversive the balance of our planet will
have a huge impact on the longevity of our tenure here on earth

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mitchbob
Classic book on tree crops for permaculture: Tree Crops: A Permanent
Agriculture [https://www.amazon.com/Tree-Crops-Permanent-Agriculture-
Frie...](https://www.amazon.com/Tree-Crops-Permanent-Agriculture-
Friends/dp/1523641231)

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drinane
Is there any genetic modification that can be performed on a plant to make it
a perennial?

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8note
theres a two pager where they're hybridizing sunflowers with artichokes to
that effect, but they've so far steered away from the targeted genetic
modification

