ReGenFarm

ReGenFarm: Regenerative agriculture for a sustainable future

ReGenFarm addresses pressing agricultural and environmental challenges by leveraging carbon farming practices to bolster soil fertility, enhance ecosystem resilience, and sequester atmospheric carbon. By reducing greenhouse gas emissions and revitalizing the health of farmland, new land use strategies should help to ensure both environmental security and sustainable agricultural productivity.

ReGenFarm aims to deliver actionable tools and insights that drive innovative agricultural practices and transform business models. Through the development and validation of an agricultural digital twin, advanced plant breeding for improved carbon sequestration, and the newly developed baseline methods for soil health monitoring, ReGenFarm plans to pave the way toward more resilient, productive, and sustainable farming.

Together with Bayer Crop Science, the Institute of Bio-and Geosciences of the Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH works in five action fields (AFs) to provide the scientific basis for advancing regenerative agriculture.

Action fields (AFs)

AF1:Development of a digital twin for regenerative agriculture
A digital twin designed to advance regenerative agricultural practices and boost soil carbon sequestration will be developed for the Bayer ForwardFarm "Damianshof." By utilizing a spatialized version of the agroecosystem model AgroC, this virtual representation of a real-world farming system will integrate detailed soil and crop data, continuously refined by monitoring inputs and evolving model insights. By simulating and analyzing available soil and crop management options, including methods to enhance carbon input into subsoils, the digital twin will inform better decision-making for regenerative farming practices. It will thus serve as a key tool for evaluating the broader impacts of global change on carbon sequestration and associated effects on other ecosystem services such as crop productivity and nitrogen retention.

AF2: Screening of plants for optimized carbon storage
To identify crop genotypes that maintain yield while enhancing persistent root-based carbon storage, a novel screening platform combining deep (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and high-throughput root phenotyping with robotic analysis tools will be established and applied. This effort will focus on short-stature maize and cover crops, as promising candidates for increased root and soil carbon storage. The resulting new insights will be linked to the digital twin of AF1 to access the potential of carbon partitioning and root composition throughout the crop life cycle.

AF3: Effects of increasing CO₂ concentrations on carbon farming
As rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations shape future carbon farming potential, rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of root carbon partitioning and persistency of plant-derived carbon compounds in soils under these evolving conditions is key. To understand how elevated CO2 concentrations shape photosynthesis, biomass development, and root carbon chemotypes in short-stature corn and cover crop varieties identified in AF2, field studies at the BreedFACE facility will investigate dynamic plant responses under field conditions.

AF4: Molecular basis of carbon storage in soil
Understanding the molecular basis of soil carbon sequestration is crucial for improving soil health and resilience. This involves an integrative characterization of soils, relating structural-physical properties with chemical and biochemical analyses at the molecular level, to identify organic "glue" compounds that promote soil aggregation. A comprehensive compendium of such “glue” compounds will be generated based on soil samples collected at various vegetative stages and soil qualities. These data will then be connected to the genetic pathways of microorganisms that produce them to establish a robust functional baseline of “glue” compound production in healthy soil. This pathway-focused reference enables the identification of novel microbial biosynthetic gene clusters, fostering our understanding of how genomic architectures drive soil carbon sequestration and will highlight microbial biodiversity suited to specific soils and climates, paving the way for more sustainable soil management practices.

AF5: Implementation of scientific findings in practical solutions
A proactive strategy, rooted in continuous collaboration between Forschungszentrum Jülich and Bayer Crop Science, will form the cornerstone for translating the advancements and knowledge generated within AF1-4 into actionable business cases. Central to this strategy is the direct engagement with stakeholders, enabling tailored solutions that address practical needs and maximize the real-world applicability of project outcomes.

Future prospects

The ReGenFarm project will establish a foundation for the advancement of regenerative agriculture, opening up a range of opportunities in commercial applications, plant breeding strategies, integrated soil health management and climate-smart farming. Through collaboration and co-creation with partners of Bayer Crop Science, this project does not only aim to drive business innovation, but also to stimulate entrepreneurial ventures, attract venture capital and drive broader progress in sustainable agricultural practices.

Team