The opportunity

Agricultural emissions account for one third of anthropogenic emissions, with croplands contributing roughly half to total agricultural emissions.

This work will leverage advances in biotechnology that create crops with greater productivity arising from more efficient nutrient use, mediated through more effective association with symbiotic fungi in the soils, which effectively pump carbon below ground. By optimizing crop varieties to acquire nutrients while sequestering carbon, advances could create a promising pipeline to increase food production while mitigating climate change.

“The really exciting thing is that when fungi die and secrete carbon into the soil, it’s much more efficient at forming long term soil carbon storage so the bang for your buck is much higher. Plus, in exchange for giving carbon into the soil, these fungi are exchanging nitrogen and phosphorus back to the plant. That’s the reason why this group has come together and why we’re so excited about this research because I really do think there’s a lot of potential here.

Adam Pellegrini

Adam Pellegrini – Associate Professor, University of Cambridge

The science

Building on decades of research, the team have used CRISPR-Cas to genetically engineer crops—wheat, barley and rice—and create varieties with greater abilities to form symbioses with mycorrhizal fungi.

The symbiotic fungi enable more effective use of soil nutrients and importantly are more effective sources of carbon to the soil than dead plant biomass. If the carbon that is delivered to the fungi can effectively stay in the soil, these engineered crops can create a win-win for increasing food production and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

This project will leverage existing field trials of different varieties to measure the efficacy of carbon inputs to the fungi and the formation of soil organic carbon.

The potential impact

The cultivation of agricultural soils has resulted in over 100 gigatonnes of carbon being emitted, which equates to approximately a decade of current total anthropogenic emissions. Globally, agricultural management could sequester 1-2 gigatonnes annually in soils but many conventional methods of carbon storage can reduce food production.

Deliberate breeding of crops to enhance mycorrhizal traits is an unexplored avenue and potential area for easy wins between food production and soil organic carbon.

The research team

This interdisciplinary team brings together expertise in carbon cycling science and biogeochemistry with plant physiology and cutting-edge molecular modification methods to create more productive crops that remove CO2 from the atmosphere. This leverages ongoing funding of millions of pounds that support the basic science and led to the successful creation of crop varieties better able to form microbial symbioses.

Adam Pellegrini

Adam Pellegrini, Associate Professor, University of Cambridge

He specializes in carbon cycling in ecosystems and the contribution of systems to climate change. Using a range of field and laboratory methods, he quantifies sequestration and emissions of greenhouse gases from plants and soils. He works across Africa, South America, Australia, Europe, and North America.

Giles Oldroyd
Uta Paskowski

Giles Oldroyd and Uta Paskowski, Professors and Leads of the Crop Sciences Centre, University of Cambridge

They specialize in symbiotic relationships between plants and rhizobia to optimize efficiency of nutrient acquisition and plant growth. Using cutting edge technology to genetically engineer crops, Oldroyd and Paskowski have created numerous crop strains with more effective nutrient uptake. They work across Africa, Asia and South America.

Stephanie Swarbreck

Stephanie Swarbreck, Scientist, National Institute for Agricultural Botany

She specializes in regenerative agriculture in a management setting. Using large-scale field trials, she works to scale solutions to crop production systems.

“The agricultural sector is contributing a quarter of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions but with billions of dollars behind it any changes in practice will need to be commercially viable and attractive. By developing a technology that is a win-win for food production, food security and soil carbon sequestration as well as associated carbon credits, we can create quadruple motivators and co-benefits. Imagine we have given proof of concept in some of the plants that we have different strains in, and showed that you could increase food supply and soil carbon sequestration. I actually think the uptake would be rapid.

Adam Pellegrini

Adam Pellegrini – Associate Professor, University of Cambridge

Stay Informed

Keep in touch with news from our projects and funding updates and insights from CTRF

Name(Required)
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.