Microbe-Coated Seeds Could Help Us Thrive in a Dark, Dry Future

In an article found on the Smithsonian website, a new start-up company based in Boston, called Indigo is discussed. Indigo is a new agro-tech company that has begun to develop seeds that are resistant to apocalyptic type scenarios where lack of water and nutrients in soil would otherwise prevent crops from surviving. The seeds are coated with a careful mixture of naturally occurring microbes that help increase the seed's productivity and allow them to flourish in an environment where the soil is lacking in water and natural nutrients.

When soil is healthy, there are many microbes already present that come from dead plant matter and other living plants. However, in corporate agriculture crop rotation is not readily practiced resulting in severely nutrient deficient soil. Indigo's bacteria and fungi coated seeds do not replenish the soil with nutrients but instead allow plants a chance to continue to grow in an unhealthy environment. The start-up has attracted much attention and recently received a $100 million  investment.

Indigo's CEO, David Perry, recognizes the fact that in a way the company is only making unsustainability more sustainable but says that, "There are very few companies that have an economic incentive to promote crop rotation, cover crops, and use of natural insecticides. It is not that those things are necessarily less effective, but there is certainly less economic incentive to talk to a farmer about them." Indigo's seeds are designed to adapt to deficits in nature and allow farmers to plant crops that can survive in soil lacks in things like adequate nitrogen, rather than drenching soil in harmful fertilizer in order to make up for the lack.

More information about Indigo can be found on Indigo's website.