Perennial

On 24 February 2022, Russian tanks entered Ukraine from Belarus. Their goal was to seize Kyiv. Armoured columns moved openly, trundling through a landscape of forest and swamp. The Kremlin assumed a quick victory. The plan came dramatically unstuck in Bucha, a pleasant commuter town 15 miles from the Ukrainian capital.A group of volunteers took to the barricades. They included a musician from an academic orchestra, a family therapist who taught Argentine tango, a recreational hunter and a gas station attendant. Over four…

Just like many of the flowers in your garden, rice has traditionally been an annual plant – that means new crops have to be sown every year. A perennial version is now available, however, which comes back on its own over multiple growing seasons.The perennial rice has been in development since 1999, and is the result of a collaboration between the University of Illinois, Yunnan University, the University of Queensland, and The Land Institute in Kansas. It's a hybrid, created by crossing an Asian domesticated annual rice…

The development of high-yielding perennial rice means up to eight harvests from a single planting, significantly lowering labor and cost for smallholder farmers while simultaneously improving soil quality. Researchers from the University of Illinois, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the International Rice Research Institute, Yunnan University, the University of Queensland, and the Land Institute contributed to the development and deployment of perennial rice. Credit: Photo provided by Shilai Zhang, Yunnan…

Grains that grow year after year without having to be replanted could save money, help the environment, and reduce the need for back-breaking labor. Now, the largest real-world test of such a crop—a perennial rice grown in China—is showing promise. Perennial rice can yield harvests as plentiful as the conventional, annually planted crop while benefiting the soil and saving smallholder farmers considerable labor and expense, researchers have found. “This is the…