Food and Soil Resources 14
C A S E S T U D Y
Growing Perennial Crops
on the Kansas Prairie
by Copying Nature
Think about farms in Kansas and you probably picture
seemingly endless fields of wheat or corn plowed
up and planted each year. By 2040, the picture might
change, thanks to pioneering research at the nonprofit
Land Institute near Salina, Kansas.
The institute, headed by plant geneticist Wes
Jackson, is experimenting with an ecological approach
to agriculture on the midwestern prairie. It relies on
planting a mixture of different crops in the same area,
a technique called polyculture. This involves planting a
mix of perennial grasses (Figure 14-1, right), legumes
(a source of nitrogen fertilizer, Figure 14-1, left), sunflowers,
grain crops, and plants that provide natural
insecticides in the same field.
The goal is to raise food by mimicking many of
the natural conditions of the prairie without losing
fertile grassland soil. Institute researchers believe......
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