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Production alone is not the answer. Except on some prime farmland…. Current practices are not sustainable long-term Uneconomic (without subsidies) due to global overproduction Urban taxpayers demand species protection, recreation, carbon sequestration, etc.
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Production alone is not the answer Except on some prime farmland…. • Current practices are not sustainable long-term • Uneconomic (without subsidies) due to global overproduction • Urban taxpayers demand species protection, recreation, carbon sequestration, etc.
Conservation alone is not the answer Except on some remaining parcels of wilderness and critical habitat... • Rural economy and rural communities • National food security • Global population growth
Natural Systems Agriculture • Seeks to conserve while producing food • Targets vulnerable agricultural acreage Prime ag. land Parks and preserves Natural Systems Agriculture Acreage Ecological fragility
Breeding perennial crops • Domesticate perennials as new crops • Cross annual crops with perennial relatives
Intermediate wheatgrass, Rodale / USDA 300 accessions 20 selected (polycross) 380 plants 11 + 3 selected (polycross) 400 plants BFPMC1 BFPMC2
Intermediate wheatgrass To increase grain yield 500 2500 kg/ha (5 yrs. per cycle) @ 20% gain per cycle*: 45 years @100 kg/ha gain per cycle: 100 years * Knowles, 1977; Wagoner et al., 1995, 1996
F1 hybrids produced, 2003-04* * 95% were treated with colchicine or nitrous oxide
triticale X Th. ponticum (2n=70) F1 X triticale F2 F1 40 3 selfed seed
4x wheat X Th. intermedium (2n=42) F1 X 6x wheat (selfed seed) F1 417 335 F2
seed yield, g/m2 Illinois bundleflower, Desmanthus illinoensis
Watt & Coyne, USDA-ARS, Pullman, WA number of accessions that
Helianthus maximiliani
H. annuus cultivar H. annuus wild H. maximiliani
X H. maximiliani H. tuberosus H. rigidus X Helianthus annuus
Sorghum bicolor, 2n = 20 Sorghum halepense, 2n = 40