Kernza in Wyoming - Evaluating Perennial Grains to Revitalize Wyoming Wheat Agriculture

About

The Wyoming Kernza Project investigates how perennial grains could revitalize Wyoming wheat agriculture. This research effort is funded by Western SARE, and run by Jay Norton, Hannah Rodgers, and Alex Fox at the University of Wyoming.

We want to answer the questions “Can Kernza® intermediate wheatgrass be a profitable and sustainable grain crop in eastern Wyoming?” and “What can soil health and water use research tell us about how Kernza can be resiliant under climate change?”

Download the project’s original proposal here: project grant proposal. This represents our plan as of Fall 2020, and some things have changed since then!

Check out what we’re up to on Instagram @kernzawyoming

Blog Posts

Finishing Fieldwork

Well, fieldwork is all but done for the project, and we’re starting to dismantle the meteorological towers we installed over two years ago! We’ll make sure to post some of that data as we start analyzing it this fall

Kernza in Wyoming - Evaluating Perennial Grains to Revitalize Wyoming Wheat Agriculture, Hannah Rodgers, Alex Fox

Last updated on Sep 8, 2023 1 min read

Finishing Fieldwork

Wyoming Kernza harvest, and showing some Kernza at the University of Wyoming research station field day! We harvest and thresh our small plots by hand so we can get better estimates of biomass and yield across a whole field

Kernza in Wyoming - Evaluating Perennial Grains to Revitalize Wyoming Wheat Agriculture, Hannah Rodgers

Last updated on Sep 8, 2023 1 min read

2023 Harvest

Field day at Homestead Acres

Great turnout for our Kernza Wyoming Farm Tour - We were joined by folks from the University of Wyoming, The Land Institute, USDA, Mad Ag, NRCS, and Odell Brewing Co! Thanks to everyone who helped lead soil health and plant physiology research demos, and especially to Monte Lerwick at Homestead Acres Ag for sharing with us his Kernza fields and his extensive wisdom of growing perennials on the windy high plains.

Kernza in Wyoming - Evaluating Perennial Grains to Revitalize Wyoming Wheat Agriculture, Hannah Rodgers, Alex Fox

Last updated on Sep 8, 2023 1 min read

Field day at Homestead Acres

Roots and Rhyzosphere

We’re measuring wheat and Kernza root areas this summer – this will help us understand how and where these crops get their water from. Also, here are some roots from our rhizosphere soil sampling!

Kernza in Wyoming - Evaluating Perennial Grains to Revitalize Wyoming Wheat Agriculture, Hannah Rodgers, Alex Fox

Last updated on Sep 8, 2023 1 min read

Roots and Rhyzosphere

First Soil Sampling of 2023

First soil sampling of the season! The Kernza is looking green and happy, 🤞 that it keeps raining. We’re measuring soil density this week: lighter soil has more pores, which are habitat for soil life (🐛 🪱 🦠 🍄) and store water in the soil.

Kernza in Wyoming - Evaluating Perennial Grains to Revitalize Wyoming Wheat Agriculture, Hannah Rodgers

Last updated on Sep 8, 2023 1 min read

First Soil Sampling of 2023

Economic Model

Kernza in Wyoming - Evaluating Perennial Grains to Revitalize Wyoming Wheat Agriculture, Thomas Foulke

May 2024

Wyoming Kernza Economic Model

Dr. Tom Foulke, the economist on our project, has been putting in a lot of work to put together a draft Kernza and Wheat/Fallow budget for our region. The idea is to compare Kernza to wheat/fallow agriculture and see what it would take (hypothetically) to make Kernza a viable economic alternative.

News and Talks

Early Career Perennial Researchers Conference

We went to Kansas for the Land Institute’s early career workshop! We got to tour the Kanza Prairie and learn how disturbance (bison, fire) affects plant communities and meet to many people studying so many aspects of perennials- water and nutrients use, climate impacts, genetics, soil organic matter formation, supply chains, intercropping, disease resistance… 🌾🥳

Nov 1, 2022 12:00 AM

Kernza in Wyoming - Evaluating Perennial Grains to Revitalize Wyoming Wheat Agriculture, Sarah Derouin

Wyoming Kernza in the News!

Thanks to Sarah Derouin for writing this article about our project! We have now done 4 interviews about Kernza in Wyoming, and it’s honestly thrilling to have so much interest in our little graduate research project.

Sep 2, 2021 12:00 AM

Kernza in Wyoming - Evaluating Perennial Grains to Revitalize Wyoming Wheat Agriculture, Sarah Derouin

Contact

University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY
Kernza Wyoming Instagram