Karsten Temme

Across the last 15 years, we have been working to transform this breakthrough into a system that serves farmers on three continents today.

I believe that across the next decade, we can help farmers reduce half of the fertilizer that they need.

So what I want to do is take you on a quick little journey to meet three of the farmers that are using these microbes right now.

So meet John.

He's a corn farmer in Michigan who runs a 1,295-hectare farm.

Now, it's a complex operation, and he's got a lot of variables to manage, so he doesn't need any more.

John's turned to Pivot for the last five years to simplify his life.

Each year, we've sent him a little less than four kilograms of freeze-dried powdered microbes, and he's coated his seeds with the microbes, planted them as normal.

Once in the ground, those microbes have gone to work.

They eat sugars from the crop, they fix nitrogen and share it back with the plants.

And then when the crop's harvested, those microbes die, ensuring they only do what we intend.

Now, they're operating at the cutting edge, alongside satellite mapping and soil monitoring, slow-release fertilizers and precision machinery.

It means that yields at John's farm have boomed.

His dad regularly applied more than 225 kilos of nitrogen fertilizer per hectare and generated about 8,500 kilos of corn.

Today, John's able to apply less than 140 kilos of fertilizer, and yields have risen to 11,500 kilos on that same land.

It's amazing, and what gives me the most pride is that our microbes are helping make his job easier while increasing his bottom-line profitability.

And John's not alone.

Our microbes have been used on as much as 5 percent of the US corn crop.

So if you'll zoom with me about 7,000 kilometers south, I'd like to introduce you to Charles.

Now, Charles runs a large farm in Brazil.