Dr. Gerlinde De Deyn will use the funding to advance her groundbreaking research on the role of plant diversity and its impact on soil functionality. Dr. De Deyn studies plant diversity in space (species mixtures) and time (species succession/rotation), using trait-based approaches to gain a mechanistic understanding of plant-soil interactions and their impacts on various chemical and biological processes, including productivity, nutrient cycling, disease suppression, and soil carbon sequestration. Specifically, the prize will enable Dr. de Deyn to expand the proof of principle to African soils and sorghum.

By using state-of-the-art molecular techniques and isotope tracing to study the composition of soil microbial communities, and by applying remote sensing from spectral imaging, Dr. De Deyn has detected and quantified plant-soil feedback effects in agro-ecosystems. Understanding the combinations of plant species that reinforce each other's positive qualities (e.g. yield quality) and reduce each other's negative impacts (e.g. disease build-up) will allow farmers to rebuild soils and their functioning by harnessing plant diversity and its microbiome, enabling the production of nutritious food without adverse effects on the environment. This work is unique in its multi-disciplinary approach and scope, as it integrates plant and soil microbial ecology, greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 and N2O), nutrient use efficiency, soil carbon and nitrogen sequestration and remote sensing.

Dr. Keith Paustian will use the GroundBreaker Prize to accelerate the adaptation of the groundbreaking COMET tool systems to agricultural regions outside the US and subsequently to the entire globe, configuring the system to operate as an open-source tool that allows country-specific inventory models.

COMET makes available sustainability metrics derived from dynamic, system-level model-data systems capable of providing robust, cost-effective, science-based quantification of soil carbon, greenhouse gases and soil health indicators. At a very practical level, Dr. Paustian's groundbreaking tool allows for reliable quantification systems of carbon sequestration/GHG emissions reduction, increasing confidence on the part of: 1) governments designing carbon-friendly ag policies, 2) agriculture industry efforts to develop sustainable supply chains, and 3) carbon finance to invest in climate-smart ag systems. FoodShot also recognizes tremendous opportunities to add further functionality and features that will empower farmers to take center-stage in remaking our land use systems for maximum sustainability and benefit to society.

Dr. Dorn Cox will use the funding to support Open TEAM's goal of creating an ecosystem of open source tools that provide site-specific, actionable knowledge -- regardless of scale or production system -- by leveraging a rapidly evolving landscape of observational technology, remote sensing and modeling technology, data visualization, and mobile and web-based decision support tools. This model will create trust and interoperability across the ecosystem in order to democratize access to environmental data and provide universal access to global agricultural knowledge. The "Seed" Prize funds potentially transformational work that needs additional validation; by using the funding to demonstrate initial results, the applicant is in a strong position for the following year's GroundBreaker Prize.