Abstract from the Nature Sustainability paper: From a single planting, irrigated perennial rice produced grain for eight consecutive harvests over four years,

Abstract from the Nature Sustainability paper: From a single planting, irrigated perennial rice produced grain for eight consecutive harvests over four years, averaging 6.8 Mg ha−1 harvest−1 versus the 6.7 Mg of replanted annual rice, which required additional labour and seed. Four years of cropping with perennial rice resulted in soils accumulating 0.95 Mg ha–1 yr–1 organic carbon and 0.11 Mg ha−1 yr−1 nitrogen, along with increases in soil pH (0.3–0.4) and plant-available water capacity (7.2 mm). Perennial cultivars are strongly preferred by farmers; growing them saves 58.1% of labour and 49.2% of input costs in each regrowth cycle. In 2021, perennial rice was grown on 15,333 ha by 44,752 smallholder farmers in southern China. Suited to a broad range of frost-free environments between 40° N and 40° S, perennial rice is a step change with potential to improve livelihoods, enhance soil quality and inspire research on other perennial grains.