Salt Tolerant Plants

Approximately 234 million hectares of irrigated cropland provides about 40 percent of the world's food supply. Of this area, 45 million hectares (20 percent) is impacted by salinity, and continued irrigation leads inexorably to increasing salinization. Of the world's 1.5 billion hectares of dryland agriculture, 32 million hectares are impacted by salinity. Together, these two categories of salinized land amount to approximately 77 million hectares, the equivalent of 55 percent of the world's corn production area ($26 billion crop value), and more than 100 percent of the world's soybean crop area ($28 billion crop value). These 77 million hectares are either currently in production but producing suboptimal yields or are out of production entirely.

Modern agriculture is highly water intensive, using approximately 80 percent of world water withdrawals. The UNESCO World Water Assessment Program forecasts a 40 percent increase in global freshwater demand and a corresponding 35 percent decrease in per capita supply by the year 2025. The ability to productively manage crops in saline environments (and reduce reliance on fresh water) is critical.

Our Solution

Arcadia Biosciences is developing a technology that will allow plants to produce normal yields and quality under saline conditions. The technology will be applicable to a wide range of crops, including corn, rice, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa, vegetables and turf. Arcadia's salt-tolerant plants will also bind excess salt from soil into the plant and have the ability to rehabilitate salinized land over time. Arcadia's salt-tolerant plant technology will improve farming efficiencies and reduce the need to expand agricultural activities into new land areas. In addition, this technology will reduce the need for fresh water by allowing increased use of salinized irrigation water.

Development of Arcadia‘s salt-tolerance technology is underway in canola, rice, cotton and tomatoes.

Reducing Nitrogen
Usage

Arcadia Biosciences has conducted field trials in five growing seasons. In each field trial, Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) canola demonstrated that it can achieve high yields using significantly less nitrogen fertilizer than conventional varieties. In the chart above, note that NUE canola yielded 2800 lb/ac using two-thirds less nitrogen fertilizer than the conventional variety needed to generate the same yield.