Jul 10 | Closing Market Report

Todd Gleason: 00:00

From the Land Grant University in Urbana Champaign, Illinois, this is the closing market report. I'm extensions Todd Gleason out of the office this afternoon. So no update of the commodity markets. However, we will hear about some important research that has been taking place for decades here on the Urbana Champaign campus of the University of Illinois. Steve Long, who is now an emeritus professor of crop sciences in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, discusses photosynthesis and plants and the kinds of things that he's been doing with it to try to improve how well a plant can take advantage of the energy from the sun.

Todd Gleason: 00:43

That's all coming up on this edition of the closing market report from Illinois. Public media is public radio with the farming world online on demand at willag.org. Todd Gleason services are made available to WILL by University of Illinois Extension. Realizing increased photosynthetic efficiency or RIPE is an international research project that is engineering crops to be more productive by improving photosynthesis, the natural process all plants use to convert sunlight into energy and yields, and it is hopeful that by equipping farmers with higher yielding crops, it can ensure everyone has access to enough food to lead a healthy productive life. Steve Long was the director of the Ripe Lab here on the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign campus from its inception in 2012 until his retirement in December of twenty twenty four.

Todd Gleason: 01:41

Here's how he explains the importance of photosynthesis.

Steve Long: 01:47

It's a 100% important because photosynthesis is directly or indirectly the source of all of our food. And, of course, it's also the source of the oxygen we breathe. It's the process which drives all of our ecosystems, both marine and terrestrial and land.

Todd Gleason: 02:09

That would put it right at the base of the food chain in that case. Exactly. How complicated is the process?

Steve Long: 02:16

It is a complex process. It involves over a 100 steps. So there are more than a 100 proteins involved, and those are coded for by well over a 100 genes. So this does make it far more complicated than most plant processes we're trying to improve.

Todd Gleason: 02:38

And how has the Ripe Lab here on the Urbana Champaign campus of the University of Illinois used its technology to try to improve photosynthesis.

Steve Long: 02:49

Well, photosynthesis is the most studied of all plant processes. So although there are over a 100 steps, we do know all of those steps. We have characterized the proteins, how they work, etcetera. And at the beginning of the century, we now had enough information that we could create a digital twin of the process. And that allowed us to treat this rather like a car production line.

Steve Long: 03:23

You know, if the plant is investing a certain amount of protein into photosynthesis, where should that be distributed along the production line? And by creating that digital twin, we could then say, well, where should resource be placed on the production line? And how does that compare to what the plant is actually doing? That enables to pick up points where we needed to make changes.

Todd Gleason: 03:53

Does that mean you can use the computer models, the simulated plant to change processes to see how it changes production?

Steve Long: 04:02

Exactly. The the advantage of the the digital twin is that we could work through millions of com combinations, which experimentally would take years.

Todd Gleason: 04:16

Once you began down that path, were you able to identify the kinds of inefficiencies you might be able to improve in the plant?

Steve Long: 04:25

Yes. One that, you know, we've we've worked on successfully is one of the first things it showed is an enzyme in photosynthesis. We call it c d heptulose bisphosphatase. The digital twin said, under optimum conditions, there should be seven times more of this protein than the plant has. And that, tweaked our curiosity.

Steve Long: 04:53

And a colleague of mine in England had worked on this protein, and so she transgenically upregulated the amounts of the protein and got bigger plants. We then tested those in the field here in Illinois, and indeed, we got more productive plants. We also got curious as to, well, why hadn't evolution or breeder selection already done this? And somebody pointed out to us, well, these plants would have evolved in a carbon dioxide concentration well below today's. So we ran the model again at that past carbon dioxide concentration and increasing the enzyme there had no effect.

Steve Long: 05:41

But if we looked at future carbon dioxide concentrations, you know, the higher level we expect from mid century, then it suggested the advantage of upregulating this protein is even bigger. And at Illinois, we have a field facility, where we grow plants in the field under future carbon dioxide concentrations. So we put those plants in there, and indeed, they responded even more strongly to that future carbon dioxide concentration. So that kind of gave us faith in what the model was telling us.

Todd Gleason: 06:19

That's the soy face farm on South Campus. It's an actual plot of land where carbon dioxide and ozone levels are controlled so that they are higher and represent what might happen in the future. What kind of growth rate change did it cause?

Steve Long: 06:36

About 15%.

Todd Gleason: 06:39

Was that in size or yield?

Steve Long: 06:42

Both. It grows faster and it ends up being about 15% bigger, and we get a higher yield with that.

Todd Gleason: 06:50

Did it change the nutritional quality of the soybean?

Steve Long: 06:54

Yeah. That is a a good question. We, in this case with soybean, the nutritional quality didn't change. But for example, other groups have tried things like this in rice, and indeed the protein content does go down. However, I would point out that if you look at the germplasm that's available to breeders, we can find, you know, double the amount of protein, for example, in within the germplasm.

Steve Long: 07:29

So if quality did go down, breeders have material where they could adjust this.

Todd Gleason: 07:36

Germplasm, that's a term we should probably define here on campus. It's used often and in breeding programs across the planet. What is germplasm exactly?

Steve Long: 07:48

Oh, sorry. Germplasm is for example, breeders of crops like wheat will have thousands of different genetic forms, and they call on those to, for example, alter the quality of the grain, disease resistance, pest resistance, etcetera. So their collections, for example, of wheat from all over the world that have been characterized, and they can then use those in their breeding programs.

Todd Gleason: 08:22

So your lab has found at least one way to improve photosynthetic efficiency. Has it been looking for other possibilities, and have you been able to find different pathways to improve photosynthesis?

Steve Long: 08:36

In in the process of photosynthesis, we've identified several proteins that would need to be increased, for example, to make photosynthesis more efficient. So for example, one of the things we looked at is when a crop is growing in the field, leaves are going in and out of sunlight all the time as the sun crosses the sky, clouds cross the sun, other leaves shade other leaves. And when a leaf goes into the shade, it takes a while to adjust that shade condition. And so we identified proteins that if we increase them, would speed up that adjustment to shade. And, again, that made about a 20% improvement in the productivity.

Todd Gleason: 09:34

If you were to successfully able to combine all of these and to locate more, how much of an improvement in photosynthesis do you think might be possible?

Steve Long: 09:45

We think we could make it between 50 and a 100% more efficient.

Todd Gleason: 09:51

That's extraordinary. What kind of impact would that have on food production across the planet?

Steve Long: 09:57

Well, it obviously would make a huge dent in it and, you know, would allow us to produce enough food for the future on the land we're already that's already in cultivation. But much of what we've done is transgenic. I you know, we've added extra copies of genes. We've brought in foreign genes and there is a long deregulatory process for anything that has been genetically modified in that way. And, of course, most European countries don't even accept transgenic crops.

Steve Long: 10:35

So that is quite a barrier. However, one new innovation is what we call gene editing where we might be able to get that upregulation of the native gene by mutating the DNA in front of that gene. And at least most north most countries in The Americas are accepting that as nontransgenic because it could be achieved by mutation. And that might allow us to get some of these changes into the seed system more rapidly.

Todd Gleason: 11:15

By mutation, you mean that they could occur in nature naturally. What might you need to do in order to push this along and to get plants into the hands of farmers?

Steve Long: 11:28

Well, for example, in the case of that, you know, one enzyme I told you about, c d heptulose bisphosphatase, what we're now looking at is the piece of DNA in front of that which controls the amount of protein that's produced. And we're finding changes we can make there to do this, and we're starting to do that with other changes we've identified as well. And that should speed up the process. But, of course, you know, getting it at scale requires breeding it into local cultivars, producing enough seed that can then be commercially marketed. So it it isn't a rapid process, but, you know, in best of conditions, you could get these things out in maybe fifteen to twenty years.

Todd Gleason: 12:28

Quick point of clarification. You're not adding exactly extra genes to the plant. You're just searching for that point where you can turn them on or off, and that makes the difference.

Steve Long: 12:41

Exactly. Yes. Tweaking the DNA in front of the gene.

Todd Gleason: 12:45

Steve Long is an emeritus crop scientist from the University of Illinois. He was the director of the RIPE or Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency Lab here on campus from its inception in 2012 until his retirement in December of twenty twenty four. We're talking with him about ways to improve photosynthesis, in the soybean and how that's been done over the last decade and a half. We'll have more from him in just a moment. You're listening to the closing market report from Illinois public media.

Todd Gleason: 13:20

It is public radio for the farming world online on demand anytime you'd like to hear us. You can go to willag.org, willag.0rg, where right now, today, you will find a link in the calendar to register for Tuesdays, July fifteenth webinar by the FarmDoc team that takes a look at the one big beautiful bill act and the changes it makes to commodity programs like ARKIN PLC and to crop insurance. You'll want to be sure to get yourself registered for that. It's from noon to one on Tuesday, July 15. Registration is available on the PharmDoc Daily website or at willag.org.

Todd Gleason: 14:04

Look for that registration in the calendar of events on July. Now let's hear more from Steve Long and this conversation we've been having about the ability to increase yield of soybean by increasing photosynthesis. We had been talking about the modification genes within these plants and how sometimes it's transgenic and sometimes it can be done in a way that is more acceptable that might have happened as a mutation in nature. We did ask him if he thought that transgenics would ever become widely accepted across the planet.

Steve Long: 14:58

I'm not sure. Yeah. Of course, the area of most concern really are the poorest countries in the world. And we've been working with the Gates Foundation and Australian scientists that have start they started work with the Nigerian government on getting a transgenic crop into Nigeria. So, basically, helping the Nigerian government have regulations equal to those of Australia, United States, etcetera, testing grounds in Nigeria.

Steve Long: 15:41

And that has resulted in a cowpea, well, cowpea cultivars, which are insect resistant, and they've become very popular with farmers there because smallholder farmers could lose their entire crop to these insects. So they're now very interested on adding our innovations on on top of that. And now Ghana has also accepted the same regulations that Nigeria is using. And these are the countries where we really need to be increasing food production because they're already short of food. And so, you know, this is, I think, very important step forward.

Todd Gleason: 16:32

Cowpea is a staple food crop in some of these nations, meaning that it is directly consumed by human beings. Do you think there is time for some of these innovations to actually be put into place?

Steve Long: 16:46

I think there is time, as long as we see more acceptance of modified crops. And I think particularly this so called gene editing, which, you know, is equivalent really in mutation breeding, which has been around and accepted for fifty years, but is just a much more precise form of that, is very likely to speed up the process. I mean, it already is in The Americas.

Todd Gleason: 17:17

Can I come back to a point about the efficiencies you've been able to achieve or you think that are achievable related to the gene manipulation that you've been doing on campus at RIPE? How much more efficient really is the crop and in what way?

Steve Long: 17:38

It's well, strictly, it's more energy efficient. So, you know, our, you know, good crops convert about 1% of the sunlight energy they receive into their biomass. Now looking at the theory, they should be photosynthesis should be about between 4.56% efficient. So that tells us there's a lot of headroom there, and that's what we're kind of exploiting.

Todd Gleason: 18:16

Practically, what difference might a farmer or producer in the field see as it's related to, for instance, a soybean plant that is improved in this photosynthetic efficiency way.

Steve Long: 18:30

They're obviously gonna grow bigger and they're gonna have a high yield. So so far, of course, when I say a high yield, you know, we've been doing single manipulations which have given us 15 or 20% more. And with modern soybean cultivars, with more photosynthesis, they can put that into the grain. Now what we don't know is if we've got 50% more, can they put that into the grain? We know, for example, the older cultivars, you know, from fifty years ago, when we boost their photosynthesis, they don't show as such a big increase in the grain.

Steve Long: 19:16

So we think breeders have steadily improved the capacity of soybean, for example, to make use of more photosynthesis. Say, a good year, they get good yields from that. And

Todd Gleason: 19:33

it's gonna be important to work with breeders to make sure that the capacity of grain formation keeps up with increased photosynthesis. Just to put things in context, you're telling me that the plant is generally about 1% efficient in photosynthesis. Yes. And that you have pushed that to 1.5%. Could you go further?

Todd Gleason: 19:57

We think we could probably get to 2%

Steve Long: 20:00

with some of the bigger innovations that are coming along. I mean, I would, of course, point out that, you know, when talking about efficiency, remember that, you know, it's often compared with solar cells, which, of course, can be 20% efficient. But keep in mind that the plant is not only doing the photosynthesis, if you like, it's making and maintaining its own solar cells. And then it's not just producing carbohydrates, it's producing protein, oil, vitamins, you know, many phytochemicals, you know, which are highly valued in nutrition. So, you know, to replicate that, you know, would inquire quite an industrial complex.

Todd Gleason: 20:53

How far do you think this could be pushed? One, one and a half, 2%? How much further?

Steve Long: 21:01

I think well, in the long term, I think we could get even further than 2%, you know, which could lead to a doubling of food production on the lamb we're already using. And and we've also identified changes that make the crop more tolerant of higher temperatures

Todd Gleason: 21:24

as well. So and also make the crop more water use efficient, you know, which is another major worry going forward. Will we have enough water for our crops? That was Steve Long, an emeritus professor of crop sciences here on the Urbana Champaign campus of the University of Illinois. Recorded last December, just about the time that he was to retire.

Todd Gleason: 21:50

He served as the first director of the Ripe Lab that looks photosynthetic efficiencies in plants, in this case particularly in the soybean. You've been listening to the closing market report from Illinois public media it is public radio for the farming world online on demand anytime you'd like to hear it at willag.org or search out the closing market report in your favorite podcast applications at that website willag.org if you scroll down you'll also find on next Tuesday's date the July 15 a webinar that I will emcee for the PharmDoc team related to the just passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act that changes farm policy across the nation, particularly the commodity programs like ARC and PLC and crop insurance producers and landowners and others will want to know about these changes and how they may impact bottom lines and marketing programs you can learn that again next Tuesday from noon to 01:00 the farm doc team will host a webinar you'll need to register you can do that on our website at wilag.org. Look for that webinar in our calendar of events. I'm University of Illinois Extension's Todd Gleason.