Dehaan via Wikimedia Commons

Perennial plants' deep roots are good for the soil.

Perennials—plants that live longer than two years—are a potential sustainable source of food, bio-fuel, fibers and other raw materials. Since the 1920s, scientists have been looking for a perennial strain of wheat, with many more plant breeders and researchers joining the search in recent decades. Perennial wheatgrass has a deep, long-lived root structure, which stores carbon, and stabilizes and enriches the soils in which it is grown. But developing a strain that is as productive and nutritious as conventional wheat is a challenge that will require lots of work, research and time.