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New Perennials
  • The Land Institute
  • Middlebury College
    • Teaching and Learning >
      • The Classroom
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    • New Perennials Hub at Middlebury >
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Roots of New Perennials:
Ecosphere Studies at the Land Institute, Kansas

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Aubrey Streit Krug 
Director of Ecosphere Studies

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Bill Vitek
Director of New Perennials
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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.

 
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All photos, except where noted are by Nadine Canter Barnicle
  • The Land Institute
  • Middlebury College
    • Teaching and Learning >
      • The Classroom
      • The Interns
      • New Perennials Glossary
    • New Perennials Hub at Middlebury >
      • Champlain Valley Network
    • Outreach and Resources >
      • Events and Offerings
      • New Perennials Publishing
      • Podcasts from the Prairie
      • Perennial Films
    • New Perennials Team at Middlebury
  • Contact Us