The new $30 million Collaborative Crop Resilience Program brings together investigators from NC State University and three Danish institutions to discover ways to help farmers raise yields with less reliance on chemical treatments and irrigation.
The researchers want to find ways to harness microbes that live on, in or near plants to protect crops from diseases, insects, and other stressors.
Amy Grunden, a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor in NC States’ Department Plant and Microbial Biology, leads the program’s management structure. Ten other faculty members from five NC State departments are also involved:
- Oliver Baars, assistant professor, Entomology and Plant Pathology
- Gina Brown-Guedira, U.S. Department of Agriculture professor, Crop and Soil Sciences
- Ignazio Carbone, professor, Entomology and Plant Pathology
- Marc Cubeta, professor, Entomology and Plant Pathology
- Colleen Doherty, assistant professor, Molecular and Structural Biochemistry
- Christine Hawkes, professor, Plant and Microbial Biology
- Manuel Kleiner, assistant professor, Plant and Microbial Biology
- Heike Sederoff, professor, Plant and Microbial Biology
- Ross Sozzani, associate professor, Plant and Microbial Biology
- Cranos Williams, associate professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
This post was originally published in College of Agriculture and Life Sciences News.