Page 17 - 09 Cotton SA August 2016

New Way to Boost Crop Production

Doesn’t Rely on GMOs or Pesticides

Adding beneficial microbes to crops could be an
effective but less controversial alternative to genetic
engineering.
icrobe-enhanced cotton, the first product
from startup Indigo Agriculture, is already The microbiome (the communities of bacteria and
Mgrowing on 50,000 acres spread across five fungi that live in the soil around the roots on the
different states in the southern United States. Indigo surface of the plant, and inside the plant tissue)
CEO David Perry says the treatment increases yield contributes to a plant's health and growth. The idea
as much as irrigation can. The company also today is that by isolating these good bacteria and fungi
announced a new $100 million investment round that and then adding them back into the plant, they
brought its venture funding total to $156 million. could stimulate more growth and
make crops healthier.
Many experts argue that
global agricultural Agriculture companies inclu-
productivity is not ding Monsanto have already
growing fast enough to released a number of microbial
keep up with the products. But most of what's
increase in global on the market now is focused
demand for food. Intense on organisms that live in the
competition for land and soil. Indigo's focus is on so-
pressures to reduce called endophytes, or the
chemical fertilizer and bacteria and fungi that
pesticide use have led actually live in the plant
technologists to search for tissue.
new ways to increase yield.

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