Adapting perennial grain and oilseed crops for climate resiliency

Authors: JUNGERS, JACOB - University Of Minnesota; RUNCK, BRYAN - University Of Minnesota; Neupane, Dhurba; MAAZ, TAI - University Of Hawaii; Carlson, Craig; Neyhart, Jeffrey; FUMIRA, NATHAN - University Of Hawaii; BAJGAIN, PRABIN - University Of Minnesota; SUBEDEI, SAMIKSHYA - University Of Minnesota; SHARMA, VASUDHA - University Of Minnesota; SENAY, SENAIT - University Of Minnesota; HUNTER, MITCH - University Of Minnesota; CURETON, COLIN - University Of Minnesota; GUTKNECHT, JESSICA - University Of Minnesota; KANTAR, MICHAEL - University Of Hawaii

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/16/2023
Publication Date: 5/18/2023
Citation: Jungers, J., Runck, B.C., Ewing, P.M., Maaz, T., Carlson, C.H., Neyhart, J.L., Fumira, N., Bajgain, P., Subedei, S., Sharma, V., Senay, S., Hunter, M.C., Cureton, C., Gutknecht, J.L., Kantar, M.B. 2023. Adapting perennial grain and oilseed crops for climate resiliency. Crop Science. 63:1701–1721. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20972.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20972

Interpretive Summary: Many important and emerging agronomic crop plants are perennials, which survive for years or decades after establishment. Grown as a source of forage, grain, biomass, fruits, or nuts, perennial crops are uniquely positioned to reduce the impacts of changing climates on growers and increase the ecological and social benefits of agriculture. However, they also must be able to withstand increasingly erratic weather and shifts in disease, weed, and pest pressures. This manuscript assesses the status of perennial agronomic crops and the benefits they provide and identifies ways breeders can adapt perennial crops to the challenges of climate change while also aiding commercialization and grower adoption. Importantly, this work demonstrates how these outcomes must be achieved through unique methods to identify, test, and interpret research questions. As the breeding community increasingly adopts these practices, perennial crops will be able to play a more important role in sustainable, profitable agricultural production for decades to come.

Technical Abstract: Climate change is threatening the status quo of agricultural production globally. Perennial cropping systems could be a useful strategy to adapt agriculture to a changing climate. Current and future perennial systems have many and varied applications and these systems can respond differently than annuals to agricultural challenges resulting from climate change, such as shifting ranges of plant, pathogen, and animal species and more erratic weather patterns. To capitalize on attributes of perennial systems that assist in our ability to adapt to a changing world, it is important we fully consider the component parts of agroecosystems and their interactions, including species, genotype and genotypic variance, environment and environmental variance, adaptive management strategies, and farm socioeconomics. We review the current state of perennial cropping systems and summarize the potential for current and future systems to support multiple environmental benefits and adaptation to climate change. We then propose a plant breeding strategy that incorporates the complexity of common domestication traits as they relate to future perennial crop improvement and adaptation and highlight digital technologies that can advance these goals. Evaluation of genetic gain during the development of new perennial crops and systems can be improved using research designs that span an environmental gradient that captures the forecasted shift in climate for a region, which we demonstrate by re-analyzing existing data. Successful development and deployment of perennial crops as a climate adaptation strategy depends on grower adoption, scalability, and sustainable modifications to markets and supply chains.