Plant development requires the lifelong activity of the shoot apical meristem (SAM), a stem cell reservoir at the growing tip of the plant that provides cells for continuous organ formation. The CLAVATA (CLV)-WUSCHEL (WUS) gene regulatory network forms a negative feedback loop that maintains stem cell activity in the SAM during post-embryonic plant development. This mechanistic framework for stem cell homeostasis is conserved across plant species, and natural variants in meristem regulatory genes were selected during the domestication of key crops such as corn and tomato. Recent evidence has shown that generating mutations in meristem regulatory genes using genome editing can increase overall yield during crop improvement. I will describe previously uncharacterized components of the CLV-WUS meristem maintenance pathway, as well as experiments translating our knowledge of Arabidopsis meristem regulation towards enhancing de novo domestication of the emerging biofuels crop plant pennycress.