Arcadia Biosciences, CSIRO and ACPFG to Develop Nitrogen Efficient Wheat

The United States plant technology company Arcadia Biosciences Inc. has signed an agreement with the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG) and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) to develop wheat and barley varieties that require less nitrogen fertilizer application. Using Arcadia’s proprietary nitrogen use technology and the two organizations’ plant breeding capabilities, the collaboration is expected to result in the development of high yielding and nitrogen use-efficient wheat that can be commercialized globally.

Nitrogen fertilizer, a key input to achieve high wheat yields, represents a major production cost for farmers. Compared to other crops, wheat uses more nitrogen fertilizer, most of which remains unabsorbed in the soil. The unabsorbed nitrogen ends up in waterways, causing eutrophication, or volatilizes as the greenhouse gas nitrogen oxide. Wheat is the largest agricultural crop in the world, cultivated in 212 million hectares. Trial crops show promising results in field experiments, achieving high yields with as much as 50 percent less nitrogen fertilizer. Wheat and barley varieties from the collaboration are expected to be commercialized by 2016.

Read the press release at http://www.arcadiabio.com/assets/media/71010-ACPFG-CSIRO.pdf