This CALS-sponsored research project investigated options for farmers to incorporate high value food grade cereal grains—winter wheat and perennial intermediate wheatgrass (Kernza)—into organic crop rotations. Research included crop field evaluations on experimental stations and on farms, and grain food quality testing with chefs and bakers. This will result in advancing the best performing lines as cultivars for the Upper Midwest.

Valentin Picasso Risso in Agronomy led this project from 2020-2022. He worked with Lucia Gutierrez, Agronomy; Julie Dawson, Horticulture; and Research Assistant Pablo Garcia, Agronomy.

Additional collaborators included Lisa Kissing Kucek, USDA Dairy Forage Research Center; Damon Smith, Plant Pathology; and Nick Smith, Food Science.