Perennial Grains

[Blaithin]

Has anyone done any research on them? Or maybe has contacts or has heard of someone doing research on them?

My curiosity has been piqued and looking for some people to chat to.

[grassfarmer]

I believe GRO (Gateway Research Organisation) out of Westlock got some seed this year and is trying it out.

[GDR]

Few years back there was talk about perenial wheat. If they could combine that with nitrogen fixation that they are working on boy would that change agriculture as we know it.

[tubs]

will never happen the agro sector can not make money of farmers then

[Blaithin]

I believe GRO (Gateway Research Organisation) out of Westlock got some seed this year and is trying it out.

Yes, Steve Kenyon was the one who initially got me looking into it. I've sent them an email, just waiting for word back.

[farmaholic]

Canola is a perennial pain in the ass.

That's my "expert" opinion!

[Blaithin]

Canola is a perennial pain in the ass.

That's my "expert" opinion!

Not to fault your "expert" opinion or anything but wouldn't Canola be an annual pain in the ass?

It's its capability to reseed itself with strong volunteer force that's the things true talent, not that it comes back year after year from the same plant? Unless I've been wrongly casting blame at the finches seeding my flower beds with it every year.

[farmaholic]

LMFAO...OK. Then it's perennially an annual pain in the ass.

[macdon02]

will never happen the agro sector can not make money of farmers then

Govt will develop it and give it to the third world. Or India or Brazil or China. Cut our throat's with it.

[Klause]

Govt will develop it and give it to the third world. Or India or Brazil or China. Cut our throat's with it.

Russia is developing perennial wheat.

Argentina is working on a perennial soybean.

Our government - our industry - is so far behind the times there's literally nothing they have in the pipeline anybody else wants.

That's what happens when you have an industry built on profits and incremental releases instead of bleeding edge technology to further your people's prospects.


INTA is researching N fixing bacteria on winter ****. They claim two years from commercialization.

N-fixing bacteria for wheat is already used on 6 million plus hectares a year down there... Don't hear a peep over it in Canada.

[Blaithin]

AAFC in Lethbridge has done perennial trials and development. Breton Plots has been working with them for a while. A professor in Manitoba is working with Kernza wheat and ACE 1 rye and the GRO has sourced their seeds from him I believe.

The research is definitely being done on the prairies, not just in other countries. That being said, Russia is very similar to here so studies they do can benefit us and vice versa.

[Klause]

AAFC in Lethbridge has done perennial trials and development. Breton Plots has been working with them for a while. A professor in Manitoba is working with Kernza wheat and ACE 1 rye and the GRO has sourced their seeds from him I believe.

The research is definitely being done on the prairies, not just in other countries. That being said, Russia is very similar to here so studies they do can benefit us and vice versa.

Kernza was developed in the USA.

ACE 1 is developed from genetics Germany developed for Africa.


Evaluating other countries' developments isn't the same as producing leading edge technology... If you're evaluating somebody else' work, they are already ahead of you.

Remember when we developed things like... Clearfield resistant pulses? New ryhzobacteria strains? CANOLA? The highest quality milling wheats in the world?? We need to return to those roots... and that's by funding public research programs, hiring researchers, and kicking the funding mode we have now and multinational seed companies in the rear.


Also funny, and grass ChuckChuck and Austranada will like this - but the Rodale Institute and the Land Institute are proponents of regenerative, organic agriculture.

[WiltonRanch]

Having the same crop on a piece of ground for multiple years sounds like a nice idea but think about the potential for disease, weeds, and yield decline throughout subsequent years of a perennial stand. If you were banking on a 3 year nitrogen fixing wheat crop that would be tops. Then rotate to a non cereal for a couple years. The ACE 1 rye has been around for 15 years at least but don’t think it has enough winter hardiness. It’s a start though. Heck can’t even get a winter wheat to work consistently.