About 90% of human food in the world comes from only 15 crops. New crops are needed to improve agricultural ecology because of the risks of relying on so few crops. Increased cultivation of perennial grains, adapted to the temperate region, would reduce fuel inputs for tillage and would help control the world's most serious environmental problem, soil erosion. The ecology and yield of several wild perennials, which have potential to be used to augment our supply of agricultural grains, are analyzed.
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