Home / Augmenting the Plant Microbiome to Improve Crop Yield and Stress Resilience
Augmenting the Plant Microbiome to Improve Crop Yield and Stress Resilience
Generating solutions
Status
Competition
Genome Centre(s)
GE3LS
Project Leader(s)
- Vladimir Vujanovic,
- University of Saskatchewan
Fiscal Year Project Launched
Project Description
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization forecasts that world food production will have to increase by 70 per cent by 2050 to meet the needs of a growing global population. This challenge is exacerbated by such factors as diminishing freshwater resources, rising energy prices, and the need for crops to adapt to the pressures of a drier, hotter, and more extreme global climate. Indigo Agriculture is partnering with Drs. Vladimir Vujanovic and Jim Germida, leading academics from the University of Saskatchewan, who have discovered a new class of natural microbes that can dramatically improve crop yield and stress resistance. The project will use genomic tools to systematically evaluate and field test a number of cropmicrobe combinations with high commercialization potential. It aims to develop breakthrough microbial products that will address the significant need for improved yield, water use efficiency and heat-stress tolerance in major crops in Canada and around the world including wheat, maize, soybean, canola, barley, and pulses — crops that account for more than $15 billion in annual production in Canada alone.