Perennial fantasies

Marc Bittman in the NYT tells us that perennial heaven is right around the corner, give or take a hundred years or so.  By working with the genes of annuals, scientists at the Land Institute in Salina, Kansas hope to have a perennial prairie which will produce food with minimal inputs and maximum sustainability.  The catch, which Bittman doesn't explore is the amount of food per acre the new regime could produce.  I doubt it is a fraction of what today's corn and soybean crops now yield.  Of course these yields are unsustainable, depending on huge fossil fuel inputs for fertilizer, irrigation, harvest and storage.   Also, the bounty is produced by essentially mining the soil and causing large losses of soil each year and polluting the rest of the environment.  These factory farms are certainly not the solution to mankind's increasing appetite each year.  However, Bittman and Wes Jackson's fantasy of a perennial prarie is only viable in a world with many fewer than the 9 billion people who will be standing on the earth by the turn of the next century.  We need solutions, and at least this is a start.  Let's hope there is a happy medium between the extremes.