Addressing the opportunities and challenges for integrating perennial forages and shrubs into the mixed crop–livestock farming systems of southern Australia has been the focus of the Future Farm Industries Cooperative Research Centre EverCrop project. This overview discusses the use of perennial plants in cropping landscapes in terms of the concepts of ‘rotation, separation and integration’ and highlights the contribution of papers in this special issue of Crop and Pasture Science across a range of biophysical and socioeconomic factors. Drivers for the inclusion of perennial forage plants include salinity management, groundcover maintenance and filling seasonal feed gaps, and this need will continue as mixed crop–livestock systems evolve in the context of managing business risk and a requirement for better natural resource management outcomes.