Wes Jackson is a long time advocate of sustainable agriculture, and his creation, The Land Institute, is working to develop perennial, polyculture systems for grain agriculture to reduce soil erosion and pesticide use.

Wes Jackson is the founder and current president of The Land Institute, a research, education and policy nonprofit dedicated to sustainable agriculture based in Salina, Kansas. Jackson and his colleagues are working to develop an intensive, energy-efficient agricultural system that reduces inputs – water, fertilizers and pesticides – and enhances soil fertility and biodiversity.

Jackson explains how, for the first time in 10,000 years of grain production, the processes of wild ecosystems could be brought to the farm using perennial crops.