Driving through rural Minnesota used to present lots of opportunities for a name-that-crop car game. Wheat, barley, or oats? Soybeans or alfalfa?
These days, it's corn or soybeans. Not only do these monocultures take the fun out of a driving game, they're tough on the environment, on wildlife, on pollinators, and even the soil.
But imagine a perennial wheatgrass that can grow all year around. What about winter annuals that can go in between soybean harvest in the fall and corn planting in the spring?
What about a mixed field of a perennial small grain along with legumes, or clover, or alfalfa?
