Roots of New Perennials:
Ecosphere Studies at the Land Institute, Kansas

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Aubrey Streit Krug 
Director of Ecosphere Studies

Bill Vitek
Director of New Perennials

The Land Institute was founded in 1976 by Wes Jackson to develop alternatives to the predominant system of industrialized annual disturbance agriculture. The Land Institute works not to change this hegemonic system, but displace it with an agricultural system based on perennial and diverse crops. 

In 2015, the Land Institute held a conference aimed at understanding the social and philosophical implications of a polycropped perennial agriculture. Thus the Ecosphere Studies program was born. The program reconvenes annually with students, teachers, researchers, and community members to discuss and practice the cultural and educational transformation necessary for this necessary agricultural shift.  

Through research, public workshops, presentations, conversations, and connection, Ecosphere Studies seeks to:

• Create intergenerational practices of learning how to provide ongoing care to perennial crops, soils, and land communities.
• Build the cultural capacity, values, and institutions needed for the positive transformation of human food systems.
• Engage and educate the courageous constituency needed for just transition toward perennial agricultural economies.