Prestigious prize for soil research
Gerlinde de Deyn is a ground-breaker in every sense of the word. The WUR Personal Chair Professor in soil biology was presented with the GroundBreaker Award from the FoodShot Global platform in New York in June 2019, receiving a sum of $250,000 for her research into the interaction between plant diversity and soil biology. It was a recognition for Gerlinde de Deyn as a scientist “and also an overdue recognition of the soil itself,” she adds. “As the chair of FoodShot Global, Victor Friedrich, said: ‘the soil isn’t very sexy.’ And that’s true. While so much attention is paid currently to improving our food system, there’s been very little interest in the soil to date.”
Soil recognition
The GroundBreaker Award was part of the Innovation Soil 3.0 challenge – in which soils 1.0 and 2.0 refer to the premodern agricultural system and the artificial fertiliser-rich system, respectively. According to FoodShot’s executive director Sara Eckhouse, soil 3.0 involves a symbiotic relationship between agriculture and soil, which requires an understanding of how plants and soil interact. De Deyn: “A big challenge in soil research is studying soil processes without disturbing plant and soil, as most techniques are based on lab analyses of field material. By developing fitting remote sensing technology (together with WUR colleague Lammert Kooistra) we can gain insight in soil processes without physical disruption. This does not only give a more realistic representation of the field; it also saves time.”
The research into the interaction between plant diversity and soil biology has led to many practical applications for farmers, which led FoodShot Global to award De Deyn this prize. Sara Eckhouse: “The practical applications of the research by Gerlinde de Deyn give farmers the option to rebuild the soil function via plant diversity and the microbiome. This enables them to grow nutritious products without negative effects on the environment. This is precisely the type of pioneering research we need to develop a healthier, more sustainable and fairer food system.” FoodShot Global aims to set up an annual challenge for various topics related to food, and the soil innovation challenge was the first. De Deyn agrees with the choice of this topic to kick off the series… “because the soil provides the basis for a healthier and more sustainable food production.”
Sorghum: from poor man’s crop to hunger killer
Photo: Sijmen Schoustra
The GroundBreaker Award prize money will be used for a new project that was struggling to attract funds. “I hired a PhD student for my ‘spicing up the soil’ project, in which we study the interaction between the microbiomes of the soil and plant roots used for the mildly fermented drink munkoyo in Africa, starting with Zambia.”
Munkoyo is popular in African countries and contains a wealth of nutrients. Roots of specific wild plants are added to grains to start the fermentation process. It is usually made from maize, a widespread crop in Africa, but can also be made from sorghum, which is much more drought-resistant and far more suitable for the African climate. “However, sorghum is seen as a ‘poor man’s crop’ in Africa. If we can increase its nutritional value by using it in a beverage via fermentation, farmers can earn more. This changes the perception of sorghum and benefits the position of women, who are normally charged with food processing and small-scale farming.”
Munkoyo made with sorghum is a promising beverage to combat nutritional poverty, especially in times of climate change. “But we don’t know a lot about it. Once we know precisely which roots should be collected and which micro-organisms help with the fermenting process, we can promote their cultivation among farmers.” The wild plant roots should, however, be widespread. “Otherwise we might even have to start cultivating the plants.”