The Forever Green Initiative at the University of Minnesota is developing 16 new crops to keep landscapes covered, and water cleaner.  Don Wyse’s field of winter barley used to be mostly empty in the spring. Eight years ago, just a tenth of the grain would survive the winter in this experimental field in St. Paul. But this year, after repeatedly refining the plant’s genetics, the field was flush with swaying, pale yellow grain heads. Read the full story at the Star Tribune