Soybeans are one of the leading crops in the United States, and a fast-growing global population is expected to increase demand for the crop as a protein source for animal and human nutrition. To meet that need, scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, NC State University and VIB, a life sciences institute in Belgium, are collaborating to boost the crop’s ability to cope with weather-related stresses.
With a $1.9 million, three-year grant from the national Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, Benson Hill Biosystems, BASF, and VIB, they are working to increase soybeans’ resilience to climate change. Their approach brings together expertise in proteomics, the study of all proteins in a cell, with advanced machine learning techniques and crop physiology to increase soybean resilience to climate change.
Anna Locke, with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, is the project’s principal investigator, and NC State’s Ross Sozzani and VIB’s Ive De Smet are the project’s co-PIs.
Originally published July 22, 2019.