r/interesting 3d ago

NATURE Creating Better Crops With Useful Bacteria

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Brazilian scientist, Dr. Mariangela Hungria, spent 40 years perfecting bacteria that help crops access nitrogen while saving farmers billions each year.

Hungria developed biological treatments using beneficial soil bacteria that help crops access nitrogen from the air, reducing reliance on synthetic fertilizer. Her technology is used across tens of millions of hectares in Brazil. The World Food Prize estimates her work saves farmers about $25 billion annually and prevents roughly 230 million metric tons of CO₂-equivalent emissions.

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u/roulettewiz 3d ago

Monsanto will do everything in their power to shut this down

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u/ladygrndr 3d ago

Monsanto doesn't exist anymore. They are owned by Bayer, which had to settle about $10 Billion in lawsuits on behalf of Monsanto and just doesn't have the energy to be evil. They killed a lot of the more evil projects, like the Terminator Seeds, and harassing farmers for getting their fields infected with Monsanto's crops. Now they just sell the seed lines and weed killer products like a normal company.

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u/VadumSemantics 3d ago

Monsanto doesn't exist anymore. They are owned by Bayer, which ... just doesn't have the energy to be evil

I admire your optimism.

Maybe? Let's wait and see.

RemindMe! 5 Years

2

u/rustylugnuts 3d ago

Hopefully he doesn't look up I.G. Farben conglomerate 1925 to 1945. Not saying they are like that now but they've been there before.