date:Jul 17, 2012
The five-year study will look into the feasibility of engineering cereal crops that could get nitrogen from the air - as peas and beans do - rather than needing chemical fertiliser.
A spokeswoman for John Innes said the focus of the research was on Africa, because of the difficulty for poor farmers of buying fertiliser, but it could have applications for all producers.
She said: Fossil fuels are used in the production of fertilisers and cause pollution. We hope to help farmers use less or no f