Phytobiome is a word that not many are familiar with, but that’s about to change.

Gwyn Beattie, professor of plant pathology and microbiology, is part of a group that has a spectacular but worthy goal: doubling the production of food, fiber and feed crops for the growing population by 2050.

“What we’re trying to achieve is a systems approach to crop production,” Beattie said. “Usually farmers and professionals just focus on one thing at a time. We want to get agronomists, meteorologists, even engineers to be a part of this so that we can work together to find what works.”

A phytobiome is not just one plant. It’s a culmination of the plant and its environment, including the soil, the microbes in the soil, the air, atmospheric conditions, sunlight, water and the organisms that interact with the plant.

Two years ago, the American Phytopathological Society (APS) asked members of a think tank what the most pressing problems are and what scientists can do about these problems?

In response to the question, the society got a group of experts together and launched the Phytobiomes Roadmap. The roadmap is designed to work on multiple fronts and coordinate research.

Jan Leach, professor at Colorado State University, is also a part of the group.

“In many parts of the world the soil is sterile,” Leach said. “It’s depleted of the communities that help plants grow. We hope to understand what makes soil healthy and apply that to rebuild these communities.”

The program is facing some issues, since it’s difficult to get a group of different meteorologists, engineers, agronomists and other professionals together to work on a project that few of them understand.

Another issue is the massive amount of information the program needs to run and to have people skilled in working with that information and turning it into usable feedback.

“Another huge problem that we’ve faced is that when people hear the word ‘phytobiome’ they think of a plant microbiome and that’s not what we’re talking about. A plant microbiome is a part of the phytobiome, but they are two separate things,” said Kellye Eversole, founder of Eversole Associates.

Eversole Associates is a consultant for the APS, and in addition to the Phytobiomes Roadmap, is working on developing a high quality genome sequence for wheat, which is the most widely grown crop in the world.

And like most recently started programs, they’re having an issue finding the funding for such an effort on this scale.

When Congress puts funds toward a program, it usually takes money from one area of science and puts it into another. The program needs Congress to come up with new funding to meet its needs and still allow other agriculture programs to run smoothly. 

“It’s really important that we get farmers involved in this,” Leach said. “They’re the ones who will be using the research and giving us the data that we need for that research.”

One of the points of this roadmap is education: educating producers on the phytobiome and new equipment and technology that’s been coming out in the last decade, along with educating people on the data that farmers are giving them.

They’re going to start an alliance of producers and scientists to gather all of this data and figure out how to sustainably double food, feed and fiber production by 2050. And they’re not limiting themselves to just the United States. One of their goals is to spread across the globe and help producers internationally.

“When we’re able to take information on the grower side and connect it to data and get the best advice for things like what crop would be best for that soil, what treatment would have the greatest impact but not be harmful, things like that, that would be the biggest win for the roadmap,” Beattie said.

The program may be small right now, but they have big hopes and a worthy goal.

“The significant thing about this is that it is focusing on plants that meet that of food, feed and fiber,” Eversole said. “We’re not going to use this on other plants. We need plants that are useful to the growing population. Ten years ago, this kind of plan was too expensive to even think about with the advancements in technology and everything. It’s finally cheap enough to make it a reality.”

Anyone interested in becoming part of the effort can sign up and give their ideas on the Phytobiomes Roadmap website.