Agricultural biotechnology company Arcadia Biosciences (Davis, California) has collaborated with Australian research organisations, the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG), and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), through the Food Futures Flagship, to develop and commercialise wheat and barley varieties that will utilise less nitrogen fertiliser. 

It is understood that nitrogen use efficient (NUE) varieties, where genetically modified crops absorb more nitrogen thereby producing the same yield using two-third less nitrogen fertiliser, will also have a profound commercial impact.

As nitrogen fertiliser is essential to achieving high wheat yields (wheat accounts for 30% of total nitrogen fertilizer use, more than any other crop, as indicated by Arcadia), it represents a substantial production cost for farmers. However, nitrogen absorption rates are low, with wheat and other crops only absorbing less than half of the applied nitrogen.  This disused nitrogen results in environmental damage; volatilised as nitrous oxide, a toxic greenhouse gas or assimilated into waterways causing oxygen starvation.  According to the 2006 Stern Review, agriculture alone is responsible for producing approximately 5.6 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalents annually, and nitrogen fertilizer is a major contributor to total agricultural emissions. 

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As Arcadia’s NUE wheat requires less nitrogen fertilizer for production, farmers not only benefit from reduced costs and enhanced yields, making them more globally competitive, the reduction of nitrogen pollution will also lead to environmental benefits.

The technology “enables plants to be more efficient in taking up nitrogen from the soil.  The increase in nitrogen enables the plant to create more biomass (leaves, fruit, grain, etc.). Because of the additional biomass the plant takes up more nitrogen from the soil, which creates more biomass.  The result is a plant that generates hearty yields using significantly less nitrogen fertilizer” says Jeff Bergau, of Arcadia.
 
The collaboration intends to use Arcadia’s proprietary NUE technology in conjunction with ACPFG and CSIRO research, seed and plant breeding capabilities to commercialise new products in Australia and globally.  Under the terms of the agreement, ACPFG and CSIRO will conduct research activities and manage NUE product commercialisation in Australia whilst Arcadia will act globally.  As Arcadia already receives technology licence fees, the revenue generated by product sales will be shared amongst the parties.  However, these products are expected to be commercialised in 2016. 

Nevertheless, Arcadia has already shown signs of success through field studies conducted on NUE canola. Five growing seasons in various US regions demonstrated that higher yields can be achieved using as much as two-thirds less nitrogen fertiliser.  Such results have also been demonstrated in the production of genetically modified rice.

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