The Salina-based Land Institute has been awarded two federal grants totaling more than $650,000 that will help fund the institute’s development of perennial milo.

The U.S. Agency for International Development will provide $500,000 over five years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also will give about $160,000 to the Land Institute over the next two years to fund genomics analysis of milo populations grown in different climates.

The grants have also allowed the Land Institute to hire a new researcher and a technician.

The Land Institute has been working to develop grains that mimic the prairie without the need to be replanted. The goal is to reduce or eliminate tillage, protect soil from erosion and reduce the need for chemicals.

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Associated Press information from: The Salina Journal