Barnes, Richard2016-02-122016-02-122015-12https://hdl.handle.net/11299/177048University of Minnesota M.S. thesis. December 2015. Major: Ecology, Evolution and Behavior. Advisor: Clarence Lehman. 1 computer file (PDF); vi, 60 pages.Several decades of breeding efforts to produce a high-yielding, long-lived herbaceous grain have not been successful. Yet, such a plant is conjectured to have many advantages over the annual grains society uses to feed itself --- advantages which are sorely needed as population growth and environmental limitations coalesce. This work lays a mathematical foundation based on techniques from dynamic optimization and optimal control theory for determining whether such a plant can ever exist. Ultimately, this work argues that high-yielding herbaceous perennial grains are possible.endynamic optimizationecological modelingevolutionarily stable strategyoptimal controlperennial grainsThesis or Dissertation