Perennial Food Promise: Living Roots Book by Liz Carlisle, March 3
TL;DR: A new book explores how perennial foods can revolutionize agriculture, enhance diets, and build climate resilience through innovative practices and indigenous wisdom.
- Perennials offer climate-resilient, nutrient-dense food solutions.
- Book highlights large-scale food forests and perennial grain breeding.
- Indigenous land management with bison revitalizes ecosystems.
- Practical guides exist for integrating perennials into diverse systems.
- Strategies range from home gardens to policy advocacy.
Why it matters: Integrating perennial crops into our food systems can dramatically improve ecological health, food security, and economic stability in the face of environmental challenges.
Do this next: Explore local nurseries or seed banks for perennial food options suitable for your region and consider planting one perennial food crop this season.
Recommended for: Farmers, gardeners, policymakers, and environmental enthusiasts interested in sustainable food systems and ecological restoration.
This news release from UC Santa Barbara's Environmental Studies program announces the March 3 release of *Living Roots: The Promise of Perennial Foods*, co-edited by faculty member Liz Carlisle. It positions perennial foods as central to sustainable farming, enhancing diets with nutrient-rich options while building resilience to climate and economic volatility through lower emissions and enduring root systems. Contributions from James Beard Award-winning chefs, MacArthur 'genius' grant recipients, and pioneering farmers offer behind-the-scenes looks at transformative projects. Highlights include the U.S.'s largest food forest, showcasing urban perennial polycultures with practical planting guides for fruits, nuts, and berries that regenerate soil and provide perennial harvests. Test plots for the first commercial perennial grains detail breeding techniques for crops like kernza and silphium, with data on yield persistence, water efficiency, and erosion control over multiple years. Vast grasslands see Indigenous communities returning bison, employing traditional management to restore prairie ecosystems, boost biodiversity, and sequester carbon—methods replicable via rotational grazing plans. Each contributor shares learning curves with long-lived plants, providing concrete advice: integrate perennials into row crops via alley cropping, establish hedgerows for habitat and windbreaks, and collaborate with Indigenous knowledge holders for culturally attuned restoration. The book equips readers with strategies for personal and communal application, such as designing home-scale food forests or advocating policy for perennial research funding. These practices root deeper amid global challenges, offering practitioners specific tools—from seed sourcing and plot design to market development for niche perennials—drawn from real-world successes. Emphasizing Indigenous-led bison projects and berry traditions, it bridges ancestral wisdom with modern science for actionable regenerative agriculture that sustains communities and the planet.