Wes
Jackson is an American educator, biologist and the founder and president of the
Land Institute. Wes Jackson established and chaired the Environmental Studies
program at California Sate University -- one of the first in the nation. He left
academia to establish the nonprofit, Land Institute, in 1976. For three decades,
the Land Institute has been working towards developing 'Natural Systems Agriculture'
which uses nature as a model for more sustainable agricultural methods. The nonprofit
organization also publishes The Land Report, a newsletter about sustainable
agriculture in America. One of Wes Jackson's most powerful arguments is for 'perennial
polyculture.' He advocates that more than one type of plant should be planted
in the field, and that perennial plants should be grown rather than annual crops.
This would better help prevent soil erosion, and would greatly reduce the need
for polluting chemical fertilizers. The Land Institute has been developing perennial
wheat, sorghum and sunflower crops that can be used in this more sustainable agricultural
model. Wes Jackson has written numerous articles and books about sustainable agriculture
and other environmental issues. Life magazine predicted he would be among
the 100 "most important Americans of the 20th century," and in 2000
he received the Right Livelihood Award (often called the Alternative Nobel Prize)
"...for his single-minded commitment to developing an agriculture that is both
highly productive and truly ecologically sustainable."
