An innovative method of improving crop yields in corn, wheat, and soybeans might soon provide American farmers with a natural alternative to their genetically modified counterparts.
Modern Farmer talked with BioConsortia, an agricultural biotech company headquartered in Davis, Calif., that’s using a recently patented way to identify the specific combination of plant microbes to help improve crop yields in corn, wheat, and soybeans. It says that by 2017, it will be able to commercialize its first seed treatments containing the microbe combo that would enable a plant to use less fertilizer yet get comparable yields.
The technology seems like what a plant breeder might do if collaborating with a microbiologist on speed.