Summary
Overview
Bioengineer Karsten Temme shares how his company PivotBio is revolutionizing agriculture by reengineering soil microbes to replace synthetic fertilizers. The microbes fix nitrogen directly at plant roots, reducing costs and environmental harm while increasing yields. The technology is already being used on farms across the US, Brazil, and Kenya, with the potential to reduce global fertilizer use by half within a decade.
The Promise in a Jar of Soil
Temme introduces his mission to transform agriculture through soil microbes that are invisible to the naked eye but hold revolutionary potential. He explains how fertilizer has been humanity's greatest agricultural tool, enabling massive yield increases since the 1950s, but comes with significant drawbacks. The $200 billion global nitrogen fertilizer industry is inefficient, with much of the fertilizer lost before plants can use it, leading to environmental damage including greenhouse gas emissions, groundwater contamination, and over 500 ocean dead zones.
- A jar of soil contains microbes that will revolutionize agriculture and transform how we feed humanity
- American corn yields increased from 2,600 kilos per hectare in the 1950s to over 32 kilos today, largely due to fertilizers
- Farmers spent over $200 billion on nitrogen fertilizers last year, but much is lost before plant roots can absorb it
- Lost fertilizer becomes nitrous oxide (265 times more potent than CO2) or runs into waterways, creating 500+ dead zones
" The microbes inside are poised to become farmers' greatest tool and transform how we feed humanity. "
" For all the good it does fertilizer is an inelegant solution "
Nature's Original Solution: Nitrogen-Fixing Microbes
Temme explains the biological foundation for his solution: 78% of air is nitrogen gas, but plants can't use it directly, so they've partnered with microbes for millions of years through nitrogen fixation. These microbes breathe in nitrogen gas and convert it into forms plants can metabolize. However, when humans bred crops for higher yields requiring more nutrients, microbes responded by shutting down their nitrogen-fixing genes. Temme's breakthrough idea was to use gene editing to reawaken these dormant genes and turn microbes back into specialized helpers for farmers.
- 78% of air is nitrogen gas that plants can't use, so they partner with microbes for nitrogen fixation
- Microbes breathe in nitrogen gas and convert it to forms plants can metabolize in a symbiosis that worked for millions of years
- When humans bred more productive crops needing more nutrients, microbes shut down nitrogen-fixing function and put those genes into hibernation
- Gene editing could wake up dormant genes so microbes live alongside roots, sensing crop needs and responding in real time
" What if we could wake them back up? What if we could use modern tools like gene editing to bring those microbes back to being specialized helpers for farmers? "
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