Kernza is an exciting new grass from the Land Institute in Kansas via the University of Minnesota's Forever Green program. It was developed from intermediate wheatgrass into a kind of perennial wheat, which can be harvested for grain as well as used for grazing. That it is a perennial means that, unlike standard wheat, it does not need to be planted every year, saving the tillage necessary, and of course, the seed cost. It should be a goal for all of agriculture to have living roots in the soil year around as much as possible for soil stability and health. This can be a large step in that direction.
But of course, this is new and there are issues. The University is putting considerable work into building markets and there are bakers and brewers in the Twin Cities that are beginning to incorporate Kernza and Kernza flour into their products. The taste and baking characteristics are somewhat different from wheat so it will take time.
For us here on the farm, the grain would add to the cash income from crops while the forage will be useful for grazing the beef herd as well. We don't know as much as we will about how this may fit together, or how long a Kernza seeding will persist. But the annual crops currently in use in western Minnesota and on our farm are corn and soybeans, both of which require fall and spring tillage, especially in an organic system. This early spring work on our wet clay soil, especially if it has not been tilled in the fall, is difficult to do well, resulting all too often in compaction both shallow and deep and the consequent difficulty with getting the crop to thrive. The very system opens the soil to severe wind erosion in winter and early spring but alternatives are not easy.
It was our desire to get away from this bind, this tilling of wet soil to achieve high production, that first brought cattle into our farming, with the perennial forage needed that could be seeded in summer or fall and maintained for several years offering us a way out of a cycle of damage. Kernza, we hope, will offer us some of the same advantages.
