Crop production needs to increase to meet the future food needs of the earth's population

The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded the University of Wisconsin System $850,000 on January 15, 2026, under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) / CFDA 10.310 to characterize the genetic drivers of microbial invasiveness in beneficial bacteria, enabling design and selection of more effective bacterial crop inoculants that reduce reliance on chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

The award funds research to understand how beneficial microorganisms invade natural rhizosphere communities and establish themselves on crop roots, addressing the inconsistent performance of microbial inoculants in field conditions. University of Wisconsin–Madison, the performing division, will conduct the work in Madison, Wisconsin with a period of performance through January 14, 2029. The research aims to identify the genetic mechanisms that allow beneficial bacteria to successfully colonize root environments and deliver their intended function—such as protecting plants from disease or providing nutrients—thereby supporting increased crop yields to meet future global food demand. AFRI is the nation's leading competitive grants program for agricultural sciences, awarding research, education, extension, and integrated grants across six farm bill priority areas, including Plant Health and Production and Plant Products, which encompasses this award.

Addressing this challenge will require effective, sustainablemethodstobolster yields and improve plant health.microbial inoculants offer promising technologies but have behaved inconsistently in the past. Our incomplete understanding of how microorganisms invade communities on roots or in soil prevents design of more successful inoculants. Therefore, the goal of the proposed work is to understand the ability of a beneficial bacterium to invade the natural rhizosphere community. Specifically, we will characterize thegenetic drivers of microbial invasiveness. This will enable the design or selection of bacterial crop inoculants that are more successful in reaching their target and accomplish their intended function, such as protecting crop plants from disease or providing them with nutrients. The goal is to reduce the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers.