theres a two pager where they're hybridizing sunflowers with artichokes to that effect, but they've so far steered away from the targeted genetic modification
Interesting thing about annuals, is that they needn't be anywhere near as problematic as they have become.
Consider - any plant which died after three months without reproducing is pretty improbably as far as evolution is concerned. And yet, there are millions of naturally occurring annuals.
That is because naturally occurring annuals are "perpetual annuals" - annuals which reproduce within that three month period, but effectively lie dormant in seed form until the next time the climate is beneficial.
In nature, these are plants which have evolved to thrive in a specific climactic condition. They optimize _hard_ for those conditions, to grow fast, to make babies (seeds), then self seed either in-situ or far and wide. Then they die off to improve the available nutrition in the soil (ready for the seeds to sprout next year) rather than burn up a whole lot of energy just keeping themselves alive through the rest of the year. It's highly efficient. A single corn plant can produce potentially dozens of new corn plants in a subsequent year - one plant per kernel. These are the "perpetual annuals" - technically annuals, but self managing so that they continue to produce every year.
Perpetual annuals are highly resilient. Their short reproductive life cycle makes them very quick to adapt to local conditions. The same physical space can be productive for much longer periods of time, with spring plants dying down to make way for summer plants, then for autumn plants, then a winter where the land lies fallow, building up rich sediment to feed the next year's crops. They also make polycultures very practical: smart sequential plantings can mean that, say, a nitrogen hogging plant like a broccoli can be sequentially planted after a nitrogen _fixing_ plant like a pea, so that plants aren't always sucking up the same type of nutrient and effectively wasting the rest.
Unfortunately though, many modern annuals are not actually _perpetual_ annuals. And it is precisely our genetic modification that has made them into problems. We have selectively bred these plants to the point where they produce seeds which are infertile, because that makes it possible for the breeders/suppliers to keep selling seed year after year (rather than selling seed once, knowing that farmers can then propagate themselves in perpetuity). In particularly extreme cases, we've bred plants that _literally have no reproductive organs at all_ - seedless watermelons and seedless grapes, for example. With these plants, the "annual" life cycle is genuinely plant, grow, die. End of the line. Start again from scratch.
Planting hybrid perennials is definitely better in terms of human labour, in that you will get multiple harvests from the same plant. They're also good for the environment, because they provide stability to soil. However, in the grand scheme of things, the best option is a blend of _both_ perennials _and_ perpetual annuals. Ideally while allowing the plants to reproduce naturally, rather than trying to optimize genetics for short term commercial traits.
