Tuesday, November 3, 2009

The Perennial Wheat Project on NPR

Projects like this one fill me with hope!

"It's taken DeHaan years and years, but as we look around the greenhouse today, we see the result of his work: hundreds of plants, sitting on waist-high benches, that are a cross between wheat and grasses that grow year-round.

"DeHaan will soon plant them in the fields. He hopes that maybe — just maybe — up will sprout a wheat plant that produces lots of grain and actually tastes something like wheat, and has the hardiness of a native prairie grass."

Another little article here points out another potential bonus of perennial wheat:

"Perennial wheat could potentially offer farmers increased flexibility where the crop can be grazed and then harvested. "

4 comments:

Pam J. said...

I must admit that this fills even me, the eternal pessimist, with hope. And it seems so obvious: perennial grains. I feel like it should be big news. But then I think vermicomposting should be big news too, so I guess I'm not the best judge of what's deemed newsworthy.

Michelle Clay said...

Vericomposting SHOULD be big news! (And maybe we should be eating some of those worms, too. . . ) *grin*

Pam J. said...

Michelle I'm so glad you said that...I've actually thought about it. I mean really: a tablespoon of creamy butter in a big cast iron skillet full of chopped onions, garlic, tumeric, cumin, and red wigglers might taste great. Am I going to try it? Probably not. But I know in my heart and my brain that it's no different than eating Kung Pao Chicken. Except that eating KPChicken means that somewhere some chicken farmer is polluting some tributary with all that chicken-poop run-off.

Michelle Clay said...

Pam, if you ever do try it, take lots of notes for me! :D