Living Roots: Perennial Food Systems for Climate Resilience
By Liz Carlisle and Aubrey Streit Krug
TL;DR: A new book advocates for integrating perennial foods into agriculture to address food system fragility and climate challenges.
- Perennial foods offer a robust alternative to annual monocultures.
- They reduce soil disturbance, erosion, and input needs.
- The book features diverse experts and practical examples.
- Benefits include enhanced nutrition and climate resilience.
- It addresses vulnerability caused by reliance on four annual crops.
Why it matters: Reliance on a few annual crops creates systemic fragility; perennials offer a path to healthier, more resilient food systems.
Do this next: Explore local perennial food sources or consider planting perennial edibles in your garden.
Recommended for: Farmers, policymakers, researchers, and conscious consumers interested in sustainable and resilient food systems.
Living Roots: The Promise of Perennial Foods is a co-edited book by Liz Carlisle, an Associate Professor in Environmental Studies at UC Santa Barbara, and Aubrey Streit Krug, Director of The Land Institute's Perennial Cultures Lab, launched on March 3, 2026. The book makes a comprehensive case for integrating perennial foods into the center of agricultural systems and human diets, addressing multiple interconnected challenges in contemporary food production and climate resilience.
The fundamental premise addresses a critical agricultural vulnerability: just four annual crops—corn, wheat, rice, and soybeans—account for 75% of the calories consumed globally, creating systemic fragility in food systems. Perennial food plants offer a structural alternative by investing energy in robust root systems that persist year after year rather than requiring annual replanting, thereby reducing soil disturbance, erosion, and input requirements.
The book features contributions from diverse practitioners and experts across the perennial agriculture network, including James Beard Award-winning chefs, MacArthur genius grant-winning scientists, Indigenous scientists, community leaders, and working farmers. Specific case studies and examples covered include: restoration of buffalo prairies and traditional berry-gathering practices led by Indigenous communities; urban food forests representing the largest installations in the United States; experimental test plots developing the first commercial perennial grains including sorghum and silphium; farmers integrating fruit and nut trees between crops and hedgerows at field edges; and ranchers implementing rotational grazing patterns that mimic native herbivore behavior to steward healthier grasslands.
The book articulates multiple benefits of perennial food systems: enhanced dietary nutrition and flavor diversity; reduced agricultural emissions; increased food system resilience to climate change and economic uncertainty; improved soil health through deeper root systems; and ecological restoration aligned with Indigenous stewardship practices. Each contributor shares personal narratives of learning from long-lived plants and adapting to existential environmental challenges, positioning perennial agriculture as both a practical farming strategy and a philosophical reorientation toward deeper ecological engagement. The book serves as an introduction to a diverse movement fundamentally redefining how food is grown, distributed, and consumed in relationship to land stewardship.