A nearly $22.5 million NSF renewal will support work connecting plant biology with sensing and control systems.
A Cornell-led research collaboration has received a five-year National Science Foundation renewal worth nearly $22.5 million to develop ways of reading signals from plants and influencing how they respond to their environment.
Cornell announced the funding on 14 October for the Center for Research on Programmable Plant Systems, known as CROPPS. The award renews support first granted in 2021.
The research goes beyond putting another sensor in a field. It asks whether a plant’s own internal processes can supply useful information, and whether biological responses can eventually be linked to management decisions.
Turning a plant response into information
One project uses engineered tomato plants whose leaves provide a visible signal associated with nitrogen shortage. Cornell reports that work progressed from a controlled greenhouse system to field trials in 2025, with drone imaging used to detect the response.
That result should not be read as advice to diagnose nitrogen deficiency from red leaves in ordinary commercial crops. The reporting mechanism is part of the engineered research system.
CROPPS describes its broader reporter-plant work as an effort to make otherwise difficult-to-observe plant conditions accessible. Its research framework links those signals with tools that could help interpret what is happening inside a plant before a grower would otherwise have useful information.
The distinction between a signal and a recommendation remains important. Detecting a change does not automatically establish the correct quantity of water or fertiliser to apply. That requires the signal to be understood within the crop, environment and management system where it will be used.
Research into responses
The centre’s responder-plant programme considers the other direction of communication: influencing biological processes. Its stated areas include leaf pores, known as stomata, and features of plant architecture such as leaf angles and root development.
These are research objectives, rather than a catalogue of farm-ready controls. A method that works in an experimental system would still need evidence about its performance, reliability and consequences in the intended crop and production environment.
The centre also describes work on field measurement that connects plant science with robotics, computing and observations above and below ground. Those supporting systems matter because a biological response must be measured consistently if it is to become useful management information.
What would make it useful to growers
For a farmer, the eventual question is practical: does the system improve a decision enough to justify its cost and complexity? That would require comparisons with existing management, evidence across conditions and clarity about the equipment and skills involved.
For South African agriculture, the research is relevant to the continuing effort to use water and nutrients more precisely. The funding announcement does not establish local availability, regulatory approval or a measured saving under South African conditions.
The renewed support gives the collaboration time to continue testing the connection between plant biology and digital tools. Its value for commercial agriculture will be determined by validated results and workable applications, rather than the appealing shorthand of plants talking to farmers.