New perennial grain crops and partnerships to enhance rural prosperity and ecosystem services A new perennial grain crop called Kernza is being developed to provide growers with a low-input, high-value crop for rotations in the Northern Plains. Kernza has extensive roots that prevent nitrate leaching to groundwater, reduce soil erosion, and sequester carbon. A multi-faceted research program is underway in Minnesota to optimize Kernza grain yields and ecosystem services while developing a supply chain for this new crop. I will describe two ongoing projects related to this research program. The first project includes a novel private-public partnership of various stakeholder groups working to simultaneously study Kernza’s ability to reduce nitrate leaching, establish production-scale fields for demonstration and education, and to coordinate local supply chain and commercialization efforts. The second project involves industry partners to measure carbon cycling in Kernza systems. These projects serve as models for deployment of other new perennial and winter annual cash cover crops being developed for the Northern Plains.
Quinoa Production in Central North Dakota Growing the ancient grains quinoa and amaranth has been done successfully in central North Dakota. A project funded by USDA SARE helped identify varieties and practices for growing and harvesting both crops. This session will also identify tips for cleaning and marketing both crops as well as best practices and challenges.
