NSF grants $22.5M to Cornell-led programmable plant center
NSF renews Cornell-led CROPPS with nearly $22.5M over five years to develop two-way communication between crops and growers.
The story in focus
The National Science Foundation has awarded a five-year grant of nearly $22.5 million to CROPPS, a Cornell-led center developing two-way communication between crops and people. The renewal follows a $25 million NSF grant in 2021 and funds nitrogen-sensing tomatoes, plant water-stress signaling and root-architecture projects.
- The five-year grant of nearly $22.5 million renews a prior $25 million NSF award to CROPPS from 2021.
- Tomato sensor plants whose leaves turn red under low nitrogen were moved to field trials in 2025 at Cornell and the University of Arizona.
- Partners include the Boyce Thompson Institute, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Arizona, Colorado State University and Tuskegee University.
What the grant funds
CROPPS, the Center for Research on Programmable Plant Systems, combines plant science, engineering and computing to read and act on a plant's internal signals. Abraham Stroock, the center's director, describes the work as communication from a plant's biology to people through digital tools, and from people into a plant's biology.
The grant supports projects aimed at cutting water and fertilizer use. Co-principal investigator Margaret Frank said half of all nitrogen and large amounts of water are wasted because they are applied on a schedule rather than according to plant need.
Nitrogen-sensing tomatoes
In Frank's root-to-shoot project, tomato plants turn red in their leaves when roots signal low nitrogen, prompting a grower to fertilize. After greenhouse work, the team moved to field trials in 2025 at Cornell and the University of Arizona and showed the response can be captured by drone imaging.
Discussions have begun with small high-tunnel tomato growers in New York and large-scale growers in California about using the plants as sensors between crops.
Fast signals and root design
A fast-signals project led by Jesse Woodson and Stroock, largely in Arabidopsis so far, aims to track and control rapid plant responses, such as closing stomates before a hot day to conserve water. An outreach version, CROPPS in a Box, converts a plant's calcium release after stress into a phone message.
A third project led by Arjun Khakhar and Anthony Studer targets plant architecture, adjusting roots or canopy mid-season based on models or forecasts.
What have the nitrogen-sensing tomato plants demonstrated so far?
After greenhouse work, the plants were moved to field trials in 2025 at Cornell and the University of Arizona, where researchers showed drone imaging can capture their nitrogen response, according to the Cornell Chronicle.
Sources & further reading
- NSF awards $22.5M to continue plant-human communication projects | Cornell Chronicle ↗news.cornell.edu
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