RALEIGH – In a search for solutions to some of the world’s biggest agricultural challenges, a team of researchers from NC State University and three Danish universities will look to the tiniest of organisms. 

To raise yields to feed a fast-growing world population, they want to find ways to harness microbes that live on, in or near plants to protect crops from diseases, insects and other stressors. Their success could substantially cut farmers’ reliance on chemicals and irrigation.  

The new Collaborative Crop Resilience Program (CCRP) is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the parent organization of NC State partner and biological solutions leader Novozymes. NC State will receive about $8 million of the project’s $30 million in funding over six years.  

NC State’s Amy Grunden, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Plant and Microbial Biology, leads the effort, along with collaborators from the University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University and the Technical University of Denmark.

Grunden explains the effort in the accompanying video: