Photo Escape

I've seen this photo somewhere or other a number of times:

The plant with the deep roots is perennial wheatgrass, known as Kernza, a plant that's still in development in Kansas and Minnesota. I've eaten baked goods and beer made from it.

I didn't know where the photo came from until I saw this Twitter thread.

The person who posted the photo accompanied it with the usual point I've seen before, contrasting Kernza's long roots with those of annual wheat's, and pointing out that the perennial crop can be harvested without replanting, which is good for soil health (because there's less tilling).

Author Charles Mann commented to identify that the photo was taken by Jim Richardson for an article he (Mann) wrote for National Geographic. The article specifically was about soil health and erosion.

The photographer commented in response: "What it shows is simple, perennials put energy into roots, annuals put energy into seeds."

He also credited Jerry Glover, the man in the photo:

It’s also important to me (the photographer) to recognize that Jerry Glover was very much the “author” of this picture, the person growing out the roots, side by side, digging the pit, and then doing a meticulous root wash so that the roots could be photographed.

Mann and Richardson are interested in how the photo has escaped its original purpose and how it has been modified (to add the red outlines around the roots, and the labels).

Another person, who forked the thread, was interested in talking about this:

Photo is compelling, but one issue with this is that perennial wheat has only ~1/3 the yield of conventional, meaning it requires ~3x the land to produce the same amount of wheat, which is an issue since we need to feed more people without land conversion.

Soon other people were modifying the photo in other ways to emphasize the parts above the soil, emphasizing how large the human-edible part of the wheat is compared to the edible part of the Kernza.

And so the photo's escape continues.