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Perennial crops are robust; they protect soil from erosion and improve soil structure. They increase ecosystem nutrient retention, carbon sequestration, and water infiltration, and can contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation. Overall, they help ensure food and water security over the long term.

Many fruit, forage and some vegetable crops, including fruit trees, alfalfa, grapes, asparagus, and olive trees, are perennials that have been grown for thousands of years. 

-- The Land Institute



  1. Chaya grows easily in Cambodia Chaya (Cnidoscolus chayamansa or C. aconitifolius) is a perennial plant that grows easily throughout Cambodia. Many people know it by the name “spinach tree”. If left alone, a Chaya plant can grow to be a small tree about 4- 5m high. By pruning the plant, it grows...
  2. 2010-12-20
  3. 2017-10-05 Perennial vegetables are often overlooked in nutrition approaches but present significant opportunities for fighting poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, as well as to make farming systems more resilient to climate change. This workshop will draw on the ECHO Asia publication “A Practical Nutrition...
  4. Eric Toensmeier conducts a workshop in 2012 @ ECHO-Florida highlighting some of the 4000+ plants grown on the ECHO Global Farm in North Fort Myers, FL. For more from Eric Toensmeier, check out http://carbonfarmingsolution.com/
  5. Eric Toensmeier is the award-winning author of Paradise Lot and Perennial Vegetables, and the co-author of Edible forest Gardens. He is an appointed lecturer at Yale University and an international trainer presenting in English and Spanish in the US, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, and the Caribbean....
  6. 2015-03-26 There are perennial vegetables that are quite resilient and also highly nutritious. These vegetables can significantly improve diet, increase the body’s ability to capture the value of foods, and be incorporated into common foods. This presentation will discuss producing and using Chaya, Katuk,...
  7. Abstract, 2018, Global Sustainability Ten thousand years ago, humans begun domesticating wild annual plants to create the cereals and pulses that provide the mainstay of our food. The choice to domesticate annuals initiated the expansion of a novel and ecologically simple food-producing...
  8. 2013-02-20
  9. 2014-11-18 Climate change will have its worst effects on the world’s poorest people. Perennial crops and agroforestry systems can help reduce the effects of climate change by sequestering carbon, while also helping to address social and environmental challenges through restoration of degraded land,...
  10. In these videos, experts discuss the latest research on perennial crops at the FAO workshop on Perennial Crops for Food Security on 28 -- 30 August 2013. We need to "Perennialize" agriculture. Perennial agriculture, including perennial grains, oil seeds and legumes as well as forages and trees...
  11. Former ECHO staff member, Larry Yarger, presents this 6 part teaching. This is Part 1. Part 2 -https://youtu.be/EQCe5wIS4cY Part 3 -https://youtu.be/YrivkjVFwUo Part 4 -https://youtu.be/EgdDwDtkIug Part 5 -https://youtu.be/mhEixJ_ze2Q Part 6 -https://youtu.be/atdL6fU9ZaQ
  12. 1969-01-19 In predominantly agricultural tropical countries the need to raise the production of good-quality foodstuffs and raw material is today greater than ever. The rise in production efficiency, so essential for our very existence, can be obtained only partly by improved cultural practices, increased...
  13. Abstract,Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, 2020 Ratoon is the stub or root of a perennial plant that is commonly retained after harvest to produce a following crop. This paper presents a review of ratoon cotton in relation to a broader framework that has been examining perennialization of...
  14. Danny Blank teaches tropical farmers how to take advantage of their climate to have year-round food production. With many helpful photos and illustrations, Blank lays out numerous strategies to dramatically increase the food supply and win the fight against malnutrition and hunger. Produced by...
  15. 1987-01-19 File: Download [PDF File] Author(s): Martin, Franklin W.,Campbell, Carl W.,Ruberte, Ruth M.,United States. Agricultural Research Service. Subject(s): Plants, Edible -- Tropics.,Tropical fruit. Format: 247 p. Coverage: tropics Language: English Publisher: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Agricultural...
  16. Front. Sustain. Food Syst., 04 December 2020 Sec. Agroecology and Ecosystem Services https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.588988 Maayan Kreitzman,Eric Toensmeier,Kai M. A. Chan,Sean Smukler,andNavin Ramankutty Staple crops, which have large amounts of carbohydrates, proteins, and/or fats, provide...
  17. Lightning Talk, ECHOEast Africa Pastoralist Symposium, March 29, 2022. Presenter: Anna Sirikwa
  18. 2021-01-20 Perennial vegetables are a class of crops with great potential to address challenges like dietary deficiencies, lack of crop biodiversity, and climate change. Though some individual plant species have received significant attention (e.g.moringa), as a class, perennial vegetables have been largely...
  19. Eric Toensmeier has studied, practiced, and promoted perennial agriculture for almost three decades. He is an appointed lecturer at Yale University, a Senior Researcher with Project Drawdown, and an international trainer. Eric is the author ofThe Carbon Farming Solution: A Global Toolkit of...
  20. PAI is happy to announce our latest publication, a collaboration with six farms, gardens, and educational projects in Denmark, Sweden, and the US. We tested the nutrition of 14 species of cold-climate perennial vegetables, with a focus on species for which only incomplete data were available, or...