An Israeli biotechnology company, Groundwork BioAg, is deploying a natural soil fungus, mycorrhiza, across 15 countries, dramatically altering agricultural practices and climate mitigation efforts. The technology allows farmers to significantly increase crop yields while sequestering carbon dioxide directly into the ground, a dual economic and environmental benefit, according to the company's Chief Growth Officer, Dan Grotsky. This ancient solution, once lost to modern plowing, is proving a rapid and scalable answer to both food security and atmospheric carbon reduction.
The industrialization of agriculture over the past two and a half centuries has fundamentally reshaped global food production, but not without significant environmental costs. Plowing, a cornerstone of modern farming, has inadvertently released an estimated 800 gigatons of carbon dioxide from the soil into the atmosphere, a volume nearly equivalent to all fossil fuel emissions during the same period. This massive transfer of carbon from the earth to the air underscores a critical imbalance, one that traditional climate strategies focused solely on emission reduction struggle to address fully.
Solving this atmospheric carbon surplus demands solutions that actively remove carbon, not just reduce its ongoing release. For decades, agronomists have pursued methods to restore soil health and its natural carbon-storing capabilities. A key element in this quest has been the mycorrhiza fungus, a microscopic organism that forms a symbiotic relationship with plant roots.
These fungi extend a vast network of fine hairs, effectively expanding the plant's root system to access nutrients otherwise unavailable. In return, the fungi consume carbon-based sugars produced by the plant through photosynthesis, locking that carbon into the soil structure. This natural partnership sustained fertile soils for 400 million years.
However, the repeated mechanical disruption of soil through plowing destroys these beneficial fungal networks. This leaves cultivated land with diminished capacity to hold carbon. The challenge for researchers became clear: how to reintroduce and sustain mycorrhiza in modern agricultural systems without requiring farmers to abandon generations of practice.
Israel's Volcani Institute of Agricultural Research spent a quarter-century studying these fungi. Their scientists worked to formulate mycorrhiza for research applications, exploring its symbiosis with various plants. Building on this foundational work, Groundwork BioAg was established in 2014.
The new company aimed to commercialize the research, optimize production methods, and identify cost-effective applications for farmers worldwide. The company's products have since been deployed across one million hectares, or approximately 2.5 million acres, in 15 countries. These applications have consistently shown increased crop yields, reduced reliance on chemical fertilizers, and enhanced protection against crop stress.
Dan Grotsky, Groundwork BioAg's Chief Growth Officer and cofounder, emphasizes the simplicity of integration for farmers. "Our guiding principle is that the product makes zero change to the way farmers work," Grotsky told Haaretz. Farmers simply add the mycorrhiza product, available in powder or liquid form, to the tanks where they already treat their seeds with pesticides and insecticides. This method simplifies adoption.
It minimizes disruption. The significant carbon sequestration potential of mycorrhiza, while always understood in theory, only recently gained full appreciation within Groundwork BioAg. "With the increase of worldwide concern about carbon, we decided take a deeper look," Grotsky explained to Haaretz. "We've always known that mycorrhiza has a role in the carbon cycle, but it wasn't until we examined the symbiosis process itself that the penny dropped, and we understood its very great significance!" This realization shifted the company's focus, adding a crucial environmental dimension to its agricultural benefits. Grotsky vividly illustrated this impact with a photograph.
It showed cultivated Brazilian fields, some planted with mycorrhizae-treated soybean plants and others without. The difference in crop color was strikingly visible. Beyond the visual evidence, the scientific mechanism is straightforward: the plant feeds the fungus carbon, and the fungus fixes that carbon in the soil, preventing its release back into the atmosphere, particularly during subsequent plowing cycles. "Mycorrhizal Carbon solves the problem of excess of carbon in the atmosphere and its deficit in the soil," Grotsky stated.
He continued, "That is, if we return agricultural land to its natural state, we not only reduce carbon emissions, we make good the centuries of damage we’ve wrought." This is a powerful claim. The concept of regenerative agriculture also aims to restore soil health and carbon content. However, such practices often demand a complete overhaul of farming methods, including avoiding plowing and reducing chemical inputs.
This presents a significant barrier to widespread adoption. "The ideal is that the whole world switches to regenerative agriculture," Grotsky acknowledged. But this requires farmers to abandon established practices, methods passed down through generations. Consequently, regenerative agriculture currently accounts for only 0.7 percent of global agriculture.
Even optimistic projections suggest it will not exceed 20 percent by 2050. Groundwork BioAg’s solution circumvents this hurdle. It offers a way to rejuvenate agriculture for immediate use, without requiring such extensive changes.
The company's experiments in Israel and the United States, conducted over the past year, measured Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) levels before and after treatment with Rootella, one of its primary products. Grotsky reported that the effect was significantly more rapid and at a much higher ratio than other regenerative agriculture models, which typically fix up to 2 tons of carbon dioxide per hectare over a minimum of five years. This speed and efficiency are key differentiators.
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Beyond the direct agricultural and environmental benefits, this technology opens new economic avenues for farmers. Proactive carbon capture solutions, like those offered by mycorrhiza, generate high-quality carbon credits. These credits can be traded to companies and nations seeking to meet carbon quotas.
Tech giants, major banks, and S&P 500 companies frequently purchase hundreds of thousands of credit units annually. The United States and the European Union also provide grants for such innovative solutions. This creates a new revenue stream.
The first carbon credits for a project using Groundwork BioAg mycorrhizae were issued this year in the United States. Grotsky described this as "likely the first credit ever given for a mycorrhiza product." He projected the scale of future impact, noting, "With the million hectares we’ve covered to date, we’ve already sequestered several megatons of carbon in the soil, and are on our way to sequestering gigatons within a decade." These are vast volumes. The numbers on the shipping manifest tell the real story of this global rollout.
The origins of Groundwork BioAg trace back to a serendipitous conversation. Dan Grotsky, a former software and AI professional, made a personal commitment in 2008 to dedicate his career to sustainability. In 2013, while heading the MIT Sloan School of Business alumni club in Israel, he invited Dr.
Yossi Kofman, a serial entrepreneur with a background in microchips and hardware, to lecture. Kofman had developed an interest in clean-tech. Grotsky, then engaged in World Bank-funded agricultural projects in Moldova, saw potential in improving plant nutrition. "Chatting with Yossi after the lecture, I told him I saw great potential in plant nutrition – particularly in reducing the huge waste in chemical fertilizers, most of which pollute rather than feed the plant," Grotsky recounted.
They decided to explore more efficient plant feeding methods. Soon after, Grotsky met Danny Levy, a researcher from the Volcani Institute, at the Heschel Center for Sustainability. Levy was lecturing on mycorrhiza.
Grotsky recalled, "You can say I fell in love with a fungus!" The three future partners examined the data, realizing the commercial viability of their idea. They quit their existing roles, secured an exclusive license from the Volcani Institute, and founded Groundwork BioAg. Kofman became CEO, Grotsky CGO, and Levy CTO.
They later brought in Hanan Dor as CCO and Bari Ruimy as CFO, assembling a team with diverse expertise. Today, the company employs 70 individuals, including biologists, microbiologists, chemists, and agronomists. Its headquarters are located in Moshav Mazor, near Petach Tikva, Israel.
A production site operates in the northern Arava region. The company maintains international offices in the United States, China, India, and Brazil, where it recently acquired a stake in its exclusive importer, NovaTero. This global footprint is critical for scaling.
Groundwork BioAg has raised $40 million in venture capital, with its most recent funding round led by Canada’s Climate Innovation Capital, alongside Israel’s MoreVC Fund, America’s Ibex Fund and Middleland Capital, Germany’s BASF, and the HSBC Climate Fund. Grotsky believes the sector is still developing. "The big money will come from the market, from the private sector," he asserted. The business model has been proven across millions of acres.
Adding carbon credits as a revenue stream will allow the company to attract necessary capital. "We’re becoming a carbon credit company, which from the farmers’ viewpoint, is literally printing money," he observed. This illustrates how trade policy is foreign policy by other means, shaping incentives and agricultural practices globally. Many bio-agriculture companies invest heavily in searching for novel organisms or genetic modifications.
Groundwork BioAg, conversely, started with a known entity. "With us, it’s been the other way around," Grotsky explained. "We started with the product – a fungus that everyone knows works – but no one knew how to produce it." Much of their research and development focused on creating a simple, cost-effective formulation that would work reliably in the field. They achieved this. The company now possesses a scalable production system capable of producing billions, even trillions, of mycorrhiza spores.
Distribution primarily occurs through existing agricultural dealers and channels. While online sales are less common for field crops, the company expects its product to become a standard commodity alongside chemical fertilizers within a few years. Retail sales do exist for specialized markets like cannabis, through platforms such as Amazon, Walmart, and eBay.
However, the major impact on carbon sequestration will come from large-scale field crops—corn, soybeans, and wheat. "That’s where we’re directing most of our effort," Grotsky confirmed. He added, "We believe that the double gospel of agriculture and environment will manifest there in its fullest force." Follow the supply chain, and you will see the impact. Why It Matters: This development offers a practical pathway to address two pressing global challenges: food security and climate change.
By enhancing crop yields and reducing fertilizer dependence, Groundwork BioAg’s technology can bolster agricultural resilience in a warming world. Simultaneously, its capacity for rapid, large-scale carbon sequestration presents a tangible tool for drawing down atmospheric carbon dioxide, a critical step beyond merely reducing emissions. The economic incentives through carbon credits could accelerate adoption, fundamentally shifting agricultural economics and influencing international trade policies related to sustainable practices and carbon markets.
Key Takeaways: - Groundwork BioAg utilizes mycorrhiza fungus to boost crop yields and sequester carbon in agricultural soils across 15 countries. - The technology integrates easily into existing farming practices, overcoming adoption hurdles faced by traditional regenerative agriculture. - Farmers gain increased profitability through higher yields, reduced input costs, and the creation of tradable carbon credits. - The company aims to sequester gigatons of carbon within a decade, significantly contributing to global climate mitigation efforts. Looking ahead, the expansion of Groundwork BioAg’s carbon credit programs will be a critical indicator of its broader impact. Watch for additional countries to implement similar frameworks for agricultural carbon sequestration.
The scale of adoption in major grain-producing regions, particularly for corn, soybeans, and wheat, will determine the actual gigatons of carbon removed from the atmosphere. Further venture capital rounds and strategic partnerships, particularly in emerging markets, will signal the company's growth trajectory. The success of this approach could set a new precedent for how agricultural trade policy aligns with environmental goals, potentially reshaping global food supply chains and consumer costs.
Key Takeaways
— - Groundwork BioAg utilizes mycorrhiza fungus to boost crop yields and sequester carbon in agricultural soils across 15 countries.
— - The technology integrates easily into existing farming practices, overcoming adoption hurdles faced by traditional regenerative agriculture.
— - Farmers gain increased profitability through higher yields, reduced input costs, and the creation of tradable carbon credits.
— - The company aims to sequester gigatons of carbon within a decade, significantly contributing to global climate mitigation efforts.
Source: Haaretz
