Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This project proposes to increase the sustainability and resilience of perennial grain crop-based organic grain and forage production systems and the value-added sectors in the southern U.S. The project team aim to enhance the adaptation of organic perennial crop production by posting and answering the following questions: How can scientists/producers design and manage organic perennial grain production systems that could provide successful establishment and weed control capacity with adequate productivity, quality, and economic benefits? How can perennial grain crop-based systems contribute to enhanced agroecological function, climate change mitigation and long-term conservation of soil systems? How will new knowledge be delivered to producers, educators, students, and other stakeholders? The southern U.S. is of particular interest because of the importance and critical issues associated with grain/forage production and organic agriculture in local economy in this dramatically changing climate and land use patterns. The project will take advantages of existing research infrastructure and educational/Extension collaboration to complete the following tasks: assess the grain yield, forage productivity, nutritive value, and weed suppression capacity of three perennial grain species vs. corresponding annual species grown organically under four establishment methods incorporating smother cropping and intercropping practices; assess the impacts on soil health and greenhouse gas emission; evaluate the brewing and malting potential and medicinal properties of organically produced perennial grains compared to their annual and conventional counterparts; conduct comprehensive comparative economic analysis of different establishment methods; synergistically integrate knowledge and information gains from all four previous objectives into Extension and education programs.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
80%
Developmental
10%
Goals / Objectives
The project idea is based on suggestions and input from stakeholder groups who have close relationships with the participating institutions and research groups. Based on feedback from stakeholders, preliminary findings, and collaborative work, the project team identified the following research, Extension, and education questions deemed critical to this project:Research Question 1 (RQ1): How can perennial grain crops be successfully established without using herbicides? Establishing perennial grain crops can be challenging, particularly when managed organically. Even under conventional methods, perennial grain seedlings are slow to establish and can be outcompeted by weeds, even with pre-emergent herbicides. Better strategies are needed to overcome the establishment barrier without relying on chemical inputs.Research Question 2 (RQ2): What are the key ecological benefits of transitioning to perennial grain systems? Most producers in the southern regions are aware of the contribution of organic farming towards enhancing ecological function. However, they have little knowledge about the contribution of perennial systems to soil health enhancement and the profound impacts sustainable farming systems could have on maintaining the values and ethnics of rural community social systems.Research Question 3 (RQ3): How profitable can dual-purpose perennial grain systems be? For organic growers, the major concern is market volatility. As a harvested crop enters the early stage of commercialization, organic producers, particularly newly transitioned growers, face tremendous financial risk. Thus, system analysis of agronomic and economic factors based on multi-year field studies are highly beneficial to both established and newly transitioned growers.Research Question 4 (RQ4): What starch-hydrolytic enzymes, phytochemicals and bioactive constituents are present in organically produced perennial grains and how do they compare to their annual, conventionally produced counterparts? What are their potential applications? No information is available on how the fermentation of organically produced perennial grains compares to that of conventionally grown perennial grains, and whether the grains can be used as sources of malt. Additionally, there is little published data on the phytochemical composition and biological and pharmacological activities of perennial grain species in general. Likewise, this type of information for organically produced perennial grains is nonexistent.Extension Question 1(XQ1): Where and how can organic producers find information regarding how to initiate and manage organic perennial grain production? By interacting with different stakeholder groups, the team learned that a key component of information delivery is building community and socializing producers in the network. Thus, involving producers and offering them Extension reports, field days, and scientific data are critical for information dissemination. Therefore, stakeholders, Extension agents, and university researchers need to work synergistically to help build sustainable organic cropping systems using perennial grain crops in the southern U.S. region.Extension Question 2(XQ2): How can traditional organic grain and forage/livestock producers be convinced to transition to perennial systems? One of the most important benefits of perennial grain system is its dual-purpose production capacity, which can greatly help alleviate the financial risk associated with organic farming. For example, Kernza® can be grazed/hayed to remove summer straw, which promotes more uniform fall regrowth and maintains or even enhances stand productivity. Thus, obtaining data-based evidence and introducing producers to the great potential and versatility of perennial grain systems is imperative.The following objectives and corresponding research (RQ) Extension (XQ) and education (EQ) questions will be addressed:Assess the grain yield, forage productivity, nutritive value, and weed suppression capacity of three perennial grain species vs. corresponding annual species grown organically under four establishment methods (RQ1, RQ3).Assess the impact of different methods of establishment and perennial grain crop selection on soil health and greenhouse gas emission under organic production (RQ1, RQ2).Assess the brewing and malting potential and medicinal properties of organically produced perennial grains compared to their annual and conventional counterparts (RQ4).Conduct comprehensive comparative economic analysis of different establishment methods and perennial grain crop systems to identify the most profitable organic production approach (RQ3).Synergistically integrate knowledge and information gains from all four previous objectives into Extension and education programs to increase producer awareness and student understanding of organic perennial grain systems (XQ1, XQ2, EQ1).
Project Methods
A four-year multi-location, multi-climatic, and multi-state organic perennial grain on-farm trials will be implemented by leveraging support from an extensive group of stakeholders in the southern region. Field experiments will be carried out at three different sites. Site 1 (Lascassas, TN), the MTSU Experimental Learning and Research Center, consists of Hillwood gravelly silt loam (thermic Oxyaquic Fraglossudalf). Site 2 (College Station, TX) at a Texas A&M Research Farm consists of Burleson clay (thermic Udic Haplusterts). Site 3 (Princeton, KY) is the University of Kentucky Research and Education Center at Princeton, which consists of Crider silt loam (mesic Typic Paleudalf). Certified organic land is available at both the MTSU and TAMU sites, and the organic certificate of the UK site is expected to be released in the summer of 2024. Treatments are strategically designed based on discussions with TLI perennial grain experts and involving producers. The field experiment at each site will be a randomized complete block design with four blocks in a factorial arrangement (3 crop types × 2 life history types × 2 weed management strategies). For crop types, we will test 1) cool-season cereal crops, 2) warm-season cereal crops, and 3) oil crops. For life history, we will test perennial grains vs. their annual counterparts, selected as: 1) Kernza® vs. winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), 2) perennial sorghum vs. pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.), and silflower vs. sunflower. For weed management we will test smother crops vs. smother crops plus intercropping low-growing ground cover crops. Particularly for ground cover crops, we will select perennial grass-legume combinations that meet the following requirements: 1) capable of providing low canopy size and uniform ground cover, 2) excellent tolerance against defoliation (in case in-season between-row mowing is required for weed control), and 3) matching the seasonal growth of the perennial grain crops (cool-season ground cover with Kernza® and warm-season with perennial sorghum/silflower).We will evaluate Grain yield, forage productivity, nutritive value, weeds suppression capacity and a suite of soil health indicators change under different treatment methods across all three locations. The project team will evaluate the potential for organically grown perennial grains to be used in brewed and distilled products and will experiment with the use of Koji for saccharification of the grain. Additionally, the brewing/malting potential of Kernza® (fermentable sugar extract, free amino nitrogen, glucan, mash-active enzymes, foam-positive proteins, etc.) will be tested against barley and conventionally produced perennial grains. The economic analysis of this study will focus on 1) determine the costs of different dual-purpose perennial and annual grain systems and identify the profit maximizing system using a partial budget analysis approach for hay or a grain crop operation; 2) develop enterprise budget to estimate the costs and revenue for organic perennial and annual grain production; 3) compare the overall profitability between organic and conventional perennial grain systems and determine the payback interval for organic producers, and 4) conduct a sensitivity analysis on key cost categories that are identified through the fieldwork and evaluate the economic feasibility of incorporating perennial grain crops into existing organic grain and forage production systems under different environments and market conditions. We will leverage participating institutions, collaborating government and non-government organizations, producers, and organic/transitional farms in the target region to develop and implement this multi-faceted Extension and Education program to disseminate research findings and knowledge. This includes organizing producer outreach events, field days, workshops, and conferences; developing e-learning modules, incorporating research findings and content into undergraduate and graduate curriculum.Project implementation progress, roadblocks, and further actions will be discussed on a biannual basis with the advisory panel. The following metrics will be used to evaluate the level of success (with anticipated number in parenthesis): peer reviewed journal articles (4), conference presentations (7), future grant proposal submissions (3), Extension publications (3), producer contacts (~1,000), field day events/tours (6), Extension talks/presentations (8), course content revisions/integrations (6), students taught in revised courses (~300), graduate students trained (2), and education module downloads (>100). Pre- and post- course/event surveys will be used for evaluating participants' feedback. The project team will work with Dr. Ying Jin at James Madison University for project evaluation. Dr. Jin has extensive experience in program evaluation, quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, research methods, and study design. She will serve as an independent third-party evaluator to ensure that the project's guidelines are being followed by the research team and all stakeholders are involved. To ensure that all project team members are aware of the performance metrics, project initiation meeting will be held to discuss them in the first quarter of the project. This meeting will provide an opportunity for team members to ask questions, provide feedback, and gain a clear understanding of the expectations. Dr. Jin will also participate in quarterly meetings via Microsoft Teams® with the project team to stay informed of the project's progress. She will use both formative and summative assessments for project evaluation throughout the duration of the project. At the end of the project, Dr. Jin will conduct a final assessment by comparing the achieved results to the project targets. This will be included in our annual report to NIFA.