Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 2

The world population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050 and such an increase will require raising globalfood production by more than 70%. When land is used intensively for agricultural production, soil fertilitydeclines rapidly, since nutrients are extracted from the soil by crops. Historically, agro-chemicals have beenused to mitigate this nutrient loss, and to maintain or increase annual crop yields. However, the increased useof agro-chemicals lead to serious environmental problems in addition to the economic losses. For instance,fertilizer budget account for $160 billion in global markets in 2011 and represented ~$3.4 billion annually inCanada, making it the 2nd leading expense of farm operation after feed. The rapid depletion of availablephosphate (P) source is of alarming concern since at the present rate of consumption, these reserves will bedepleted within 50-100 years. Among the future sustainable long-term scenarios to solve this urgent need, thedevelopment of new biofertilizers based on beneficial microorganisms is of paramount importance. Themanagement of beneficial microorganisms in agriculture cannot only preserve soil health but can also ensuressustainable use of non-renewable resources like P, increase crop quality and yield as well as greatly reduce costper hectare. This industry-driven project aims to create a ""new microbial based-fertilizer formulation"" thatcombines the beneficial effects of two of the most important plant growth promoting microorganisms (PGPM):the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and their intimately associated phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB),along with sources of inorganic P from phosphate rock (PR). This new product meets an increased marketdemand and tendency of reduction of agro-chemical inputs reduction and employment of alternative strategiesfor increasing global food production.