Late spring frost is the biggest climate-related hazard in agriculture 1.
Climate change is causing plants to flower earlier each decade…
... making them more vulnerable to frost damage.
In the spring of 2017, €3.3 billion worth of crops were lost as a single frost event swept across Europe 2.
And unlike the flowers, this problem will only grow!
For fruit farmers frost damage is an ever-increasing global struggle.
They spray trees with water, light fires or cover the orchard with fabric in hopes of saving their harvests.
But these solutions are far from ideal!
They are costly, polluting, require lots of resources, cause major distress to farmers and do not tackle the root of the problem.
What if we could nip the problem in the bud?
With PseuPomona we aim to restore flowering time of fruit trees to what it was before global warming.
When applied to the soil, our engineered P. fluorescens secretes antiflorigen proteins into the roots.
They travel up the phloem to reach the buds and delay the development of flowers.
Flowers that stay in their buds are naturally protected from frost damage.
Once frost is no longer expected, our bacterium can be removed from the soil and flowering can safely take place!
[1] Lamichhane, J. R. (2021). Rising risks of late-spring frosts in a changing climate. Nature Climate Change, 11(7), 554-555.
[2] Snyder, R. L. & de Melo-Abreu, J. P. Frost Protection: Fundamentals, Practice, and Economics (FAO, 2005).
Curious to know more?
Go read our project description!
Late spring frost is the biggest climate-related hazard in agriculture 1.
Climate change is causing plants to flower earlier each decade…
... making them more vulnerable to frost damage.
In the spring of 2017, €3.3 billion worth of crops were lost as a single frost event swept across Europe 2.
And unlike the flowers, this problem will only grow!
For fruit farmers frost damage is an ever-increasing global struggle.
They spray trees with water, light fires or cover the orchard with fabric in hopes of saving their harvests.
But these solutions are far from ideal!
They are costly, polluting, require lots of resources, cause major distress to farmers and do not tackle the root of the problem.
What if we could nip the problem in the bud?
With PseuPomona, we aim to restore flowering time of fruit trees to what it was before global warming.
When applied to the soil, our engineered P. fluorescens secretes antiflorigen proteins into the roots.
They travel up the phloem to reach the buds and delay the development of flowers.
Flowers that stay in their buds are naturally protected from frost damage.
Once frost is no longer expected, our bacterium can be removed from the soil and flowering can safely take place!
[1] Lamichhane, J. R. (2021). Rising risks of late-spring frosts in a changing climate. Nature Climate Change, 11(7), 554-555.
[2] Snyder, R. L. & de Melo-Abreu, J. P. Frost Protection: Fundamentals, Practice, and Economics (FAO, 2005).
Curious to know more?
Go read our project description!
