Day

April 29, 2026

Living Roots: The Promise of Perennial Foods

Bavley Madeleine

Edited by Liz Carlisle and Aubrey Streit Krug. Island Press/Princeton University Press, 2026.

Just four annual crops—corn, wheat, rice, and soybeans—account for 75% of the calories consumed by people. We are missing out on a tremendous bounty of perennial foods—foods that can not only enrich our diets but help heal the land and combat climate change. By investing energy in robust root systems rather than just annual growth, perennial food plants endure year after year, pointing the way to a more resilient future. In ...