1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey 2 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:11,959 Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren Vogle bomb here. The ever increasing need 3 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:16,120 Speaker 1: to feed Earth's growing population, and that not always cautious 4 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: ways that we grow our food are some of the 5 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,520 Speaker 1: factors that have put our planet's environment in peril. Farming 6 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 1: accounts for nearly a quarter of human emissions that are 7 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:28,240 Speaker 1: warming the atmosphere, and as much as half of that 8 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:31,880 Speaker 1: comes from plowing the soil to grow crops such as wheat, corn, 9 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 1: and soybeans, which releases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, 10 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:40,080 Speaker 1: of the latter a byproduct of fertilizer use. But researchers 11 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 1: have been working on ways to reduce the harmful environmental 12 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:47,400 Speaker 1: effects of agriculture. One potentially promising innovation is a grain 13 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: that goes by the trademarked name kurnza. Unlike familiar grains, 14 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:54,960 Speaker 1: it can be made into flour for use in bread, breakfast, cereal, 15 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:58,040 Speaker 1: and other foods, and also as an ingredient in products 16 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: ranging from beer to ice cream. But unlike many other grains, 17 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:06,280 Speaker 1: kerenza is a perennial plant, a meaning that once it's planted, 18 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,679 Speaker 1: it'll keep coming back up year after year. It doesn't 19 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:12,120 Speaker 1: have to be replanted from scratch each year, so it 20 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 1: cuts down on labor. In addition, Kearnza has a deep 21 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 1: root system. It reaches over ten feet or three meters 22 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:22,000 Speaker 1: into the soil and may help to sequester or capture 23 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:25,479 Speaker 1: atmospheric carbon. That root system could also make it more 24 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:28,319 Speaker 1: resistant to the impact of drought related to climate change 25 00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: in some areas. Krenza was developed by the Land Institute, 26 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:36,400 Speaker 1: a Salina, Kansas based organization founded in nineteen seventy six. 27 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:39,960 Speaker 1: The co founder, West Jackson recognized that a big problem 28 00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 1: of modern agriculture was that it was wearing out the 29 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,760 Speaker 1: soil by focusing upon monoculture growing a single crop in 30 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: a certain area. As that practice intensified on modern farms, 31 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 1: its destructive downsides became more and more evident in the 32 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 1: form of erosion and worn out soil that required increasing 33 00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: amounts of fertilizer, creating increasingly polluted groundwater. Jackson saw the 34 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: development of perennial grains to replace annual ones as a 35 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 1: vital part of the solution to those problems. The Land 36 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:12,920 Speaker 1: Institute's website explains, given that grains make up over of 37 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: our global caloric consumption and over for our global crop lands. 38 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: Transitioning from an extractive annual model to a perennial model 39 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:23,200 Speaker 1: is the best chance we have to create a truly 40 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:27,520 Speaker 1: regenerative food future. But developing new food crops is a 41 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 1: difficult and time intensive challenge. Back in scientists at the 42 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 1: Rowdale Institute, another research organization, identified a plant called intermediate 43 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 1: wheat grass, a species related to wheat, as a promising 44 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:43,240 Speaker 1: candidate that might be developed into a perennial grain. They 45 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: worked with researchers from the United States Department of Agriculture 46 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: to breed the plant and improve its fertility and seed size. 47 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: In two thousand three, the Land Institute began working with 48 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: intermediate wheat grass as well. After years of breeding the plant, 49 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 1: they developed currents of the registered trade name for their variety. 50 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: In some ways, the process of developing a new crop 51 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:07,640 Speaker 1: hasn't changed much since prehistoric times. Basically, it involves breeding 52 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:11,359 Speaker 1: generation after generation of a plant, taking the best from 53 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:13,959 Speaker 1: each new batch, and breeding them together in an effort 54 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: to promote whatever desirable characteristics you're seeking. However, plant breeders 55 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 1: these days have some tools that the ancients lacked. The 56 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: Land Institute employed a process called molecular breeding, in which 57 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: they use genetic analysis to determine the traits that the 58 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 1: plant should have even before it grows to full size, 59 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:34,040 Speaker 1: in order to spot plants but the most potential for breeding. 60 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:38,040 Speaker 1: We spoke with Rachel Stroher, the Institute's chief strategy officer. 61 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: She explained it's taken US ten thousand years and an 62 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 1: intensified two hundred years of modern breeding to get the 63 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: crops we have today. It's taken twenty to get curnza 64 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: to where it is. It might take another twenty to 65 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: get it to competing at a scale with the annuals. 66 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: But in the effort to turn curnza into a commercially 67 00:03:55,960 --> 00:03:59,440 Speaker 1: viable crop, there's a lot of work ahead. Stroller says 68 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: that research ars are now working to increase the size 69 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: and number of seeds produced by each plant, and to 70 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 1: increase the height of the plants. One drawback of curnza 71 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: is the unlike conventional wheat, it doesn't yet lend itself 72 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: to free threshing, in which the edible grain is easily 73 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: loosened from the plant. It instead requires another step called 74 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: de hulling, to remove the skin of the seed before 75 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 1: it can be turned into flour. That's because the stems 76 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: remain green after the plant matures, Conventional wheat withers and 77 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: is thus more easily separated. In addition to breeding currenza 78 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:33,680 Speaker 1: to make it suitable for free threshing in the future, 79 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:37,120 Speaker 1: scientists are working to make the yield produced by real 80 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:39,719 Speaker 1: working farms match what they've been able to achieve on 81 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:42,840 Speaker 1: their research plots. To that end, they're gathering data from 82 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:45,600 Speaker 1: the farmers to help figure out how to time the harvest, 83 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:49,360 Speaker 1: what settings would be optimal for combines, and other factors 84 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 1: that might make the fields more productive. Researchers are also 85 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:57,279 Speaker 1: working with bakers, chefs, brewers, and distillers to develop products 86 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:00,440 Speaker 1: that utilize curtainsa to help create a future market for it. 87 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:03,920 Speaker 1: One product already on the market is long Route pale Ale, 88 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:08,359 Speaker 1: whose maker Patagonia provisions cites currents as environmental positives in 89 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:12,520 Speaker 1: its marketing, and last year General Mills Cascadian Farms brand 90 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:16,280 Speaker 1: produced a limited edition honeytoasted Currents of Cereal, which it's 91 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 1: sold to raise funds for the researchers. We also spoke 92 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:22,960 Speaker 1: via email with Steve Coleman, an assistant professor in the 93 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:26,240 Speaker 1: School of Environment and Natural Resources and Ohio State University, 94 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:28,919 Speaker 1: and the co author of a twenty eighteen Bioscience article 95 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 1: on Curnza cultivation methods. He said, I've been working with 96 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:34,880 Speaker 1: Curnza for ten years, and it's been a fun adventure. 97 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:37,040 Speaker 1: I think one of the things that I've really come 98 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:40,640 Speaker 1: to appreciate is that successfully domesticating and developing a new 99 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 1: crop requires more work than anyone can really appreciate. It's 100 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: a major collaborative effort that really does require many people 101 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:52,560 Speaker 1: working together, scientists of many disciplines, food chain actors, and 102 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 1: a consumer market that's ready for and wants it. It's 103 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: pretty daunting task, but also what makes it so much 104 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:01,159 Speaker 1: fun to be a part of it. The Land Institute's 105 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:03,480 Speaker 1: Currents of program is just one part of a larger 106 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:07,039 Speaker 1: effort to develop perennial crops that could someday replace annual ones. 107 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:11,040 Speaker 1: Also in the works are perennial wheat, sorghum lagoons, and 108 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,360 Speaker 1: oil seed, and the Institute has helped launch and fund 109 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:17,359 Speaker 1: program in China to develop a perennial version of rice. 110 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:25,480 Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Patrick Jake Tiger and produced 111 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:28,160 Speaker 1: by Loll Berlante and Tyler Clang. For more on this 112 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:30,400 Speaker 1: and lots of other topics with deep roots, visit how 113 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:33,679 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio. 114 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 1: For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart 115 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:38,599 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 116 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 1: favorite shows.