Nitrogen-fixing wheat could change farming

December 15, 2025

key points from this story:

• Researchers explore nitrogen-fixing wheat
• UC Davis leads gene editing project
• Could cut fertilizer costs for farmers
• Potential major shift for Prairie agriculture
• Might extend to barley and oats
• Still years away from commercial use

Some might call it the ‘holy grail’ of Prairie agriculture. Now whether plant researchers cracking the mystery to finally breed a nitrogen fixing wheat is really that significant will be a discussion for ag historians a decade or two after it happens, but if such varieties are created it will significantly change farming.

The idea of breeding a wheat capable of fixing nitrogen in the same fashion legumes such as alfalfa and field peas do is not new, but it has proved somewhat elusive.

According to a recent article at producer.com a team at University of California Davis led by Eduardo Blumwald — a project funded in part by Bayer Crop Science — has used gene editing techniques to grow wheat plants that promoted formation of nitrogen in the surrounding soil, according to a Nov. 24 release from ScienceDaily.