Scientists hope deeper-rooted soybeans can withstand climate extremes and store more carbon

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Research scientist Ashish Rajurkar kneels in the dirt, lifting a large clod of soil tangled around a soybean plant. He knocks away pieces of earth from the plant's roots, which slope straight down instead of out to the side like typical soybean plants.

Researchers hope roots like these could help crops withstand some effects of climate change while also drawing more carbon from the atmosphere and storing it underground. Carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels traps heat in the atmosphere, driving human-caused climate change.

For years, scientists have explored ways to remove some of that carbon from the atmosphere, including through direct air capture, changes to ocean chemistry so seawater can absorb more carbon, and reforestation. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies are testing whether deeper root systems could become another tool.

But scientists still need to show how much additional carbon those roots can store under real farming conditions, how long the carbon would remain underground and whether the crops can maintain yields.

An $18 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund will help Salk researchers test those questions in the field by measuring how resilient these plants are to drought and other climate stressors, how much carbon they can store and for how long, and how to get the plants onto farms at scale.

Wolfgang Busch, director of the institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative, said the issue is pressing.

“We are actually steering in a direction that is very concerning,” he said. “It will become harder to grow enough food for enough people.”

Over the last six years, Salk scientists uncovered the genetic information of hundreds of versions of common row crop plants such as soybeans and sorghum from around the world, creating an “encyclopedia” of plant genomes, said Todd Michael, a research professor at the institute.

After identifying 347 genes related to carbon storage and root growth, scientists were able to edit the plants' DNA and create ones with roots that penetrate the soil further down.

“We wanted to leverage the natural variation of a given plant,” Michael said. “We just have to be able to make the right crosses to bring in those genetics.”

During droughts, they hope the roots will allow plants to access water below the top layer of soil while also storing carbon farther underground, where it may be less vulnerable to being released when farmers till their fields.

Researchers are also trying to boost carbon storage by growing larger root systems so more carbon-rich plant material is left in the soil, and by increasing suberin, a cork-like substance in roots that contains carbon and decomposes more slowly than many other plant tissues.

Researchers hypothesize that more steeply shaped root systems may also allow farmers to plant more crops in a smaller area, potentially increasing yield.

Salk scientists think longer, bigger roots could also absorb more nitrogen and other fertilizer runoff, which can cause algae blooms and lead to low-oxygen environments that kill marine life.

Based on earlier lab results, Salk researchers estimate one hectare (2.5 acres) of deeper- and bigger-rooted soybean plants could store an additional metric ton of carbon dioxide per year. How long that carbon stays stored depends on how deep the roots can grow and the surrounding environment in the soil. Initial results from the field are expected this fall, Busch said.

At one of these field sites at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Salk is growing deep-rooted soybean plants under a canopy that can open and close to control the amount of rainfall plants receive, testing how the plants perform in drought conditions. Using underground cameras and sensing equipment, research partners at the university can track the amount of carbon in the soil and view the root structure's growth in real-time.

But there is still uncertainty about how these plants will perform outside a lab. Salk researchers hope data collection at the site in Illinois, along with ones in Missouri, Kansas and Iowa, will provide accurate estimates of carbon storage and crop yield.

Because most plant breeders haven't focused on root systems in the past, “we don’t really know what the real trade-off is,” Busch said. “You have to test it in the field.”

Busch acknowledges that getting new seed technology into farmers' fields can be difficult. Having a crop that has clear benefits to farmers and large seed companies is key to getting it adopted rapidly. He noted that companies and farmers adopted herbicide-resistant crops in less than a decade once the technology was introduced.

“Historically it’s clear, if you have a technology that is interesting to a big seed company, it will go out there very, very fast,” he said.

And large-scale adoption on farm fields will be required to have the kind of carbon-reduction impact Salk scientists want. A 2025 study that Busch co-authored modeled that about a gigaton of carbon dioxide per year could be removed from the atmosphere by 2040 if deeper-rooted soybean, corn, cotton and canola crops were adopted in countries where genetically-modified crops are already grown.

Adoption could be rapid because deeper-rooted crops could be planted on current farm fields using existing agricultural infrastructure and land, according to the study.

Andrew Bovarnik, head of global food systems for the United Nations Development Programme, cautioned new crop technologies can take longer to implement than researchers expect. Farmers’ decisions are shaped not only by what happens on their fields, he said, but also by seed companies, commodity buyers, government subsidies, trade rules and access to financing.

“There’s a sense that if you innovate and come up with a good idea, then boom, it can happen,” Bovarnik said. “But it tends not to. We are stuck in a system that is pretty entrenched.”

Farmers are also reluctant to take risks on unfamiliar crops, he said, particularly without evidence they won’t bring unintended problems such as greater susceptibility to disease or heat.

Subsidies and other incentives could help speed adoption, Bovarnik said, but even if deeper-rooted crops prove useful, their impact will depend on how land is used, how soils are managed and whether crops such as soy are being grown for the most efficient or beneficial purposes.

“Always keep looking at that bigger strategic, systemic lens to food,” Bovarnik said, “not just the end-of-pipe innovation.”

Busch also acknowledged that crop and seed development can take years. Ambitious solutions, he said, require fast funding.

“It’s a race against time,” he said of climate change. “We are racing against limiting the damage and crossing tipping points, where it’s much harder to return from.”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Follow Annika Hammerschlag on Instagram @ahammergram and Joshua A. Bickel on Instagram, Bluesky and X @joshuabickel.

A genetically-engineered soybean root, left, which has roots that grow downward and with more root mass, is shown next to a conventional soybean root Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, at a research farm in Urbana, Ill. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Root samples of genetically-engineered soybeans dry after collection Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, at a research farm in Urbana, Ill. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Preyanka Mehta, a research associate at Cquesta, removes soil from a genetically-engineered soybean root Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, at a research farm in Urbana, Ill. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Wolfgang Busch, director of the Harnessing Plants Initiative at the Salk Institute, takes a photograph of genetically-engineered soybeans Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, at a research farm in Urbana, Ill. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A caterpillar crawls on the leaf of a genetically-engineered soybean plant Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, at a research farm in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel) CORRECTS: Spelling of Champaign from Champagne

Genetically-engineered soybeans grow Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, at a research farm in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel) CORRECTS: Spelling of location to Champaign from Champagne

A device measures carbon levels in soil Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, at a research farm in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Wolfgang Busch, director of the Harnessing Plants Initiative at the Salk Institute, holds up a soybean root that was genetically-engineered to grow downward Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, at a research farm in Urbana, Ill. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Ashish Rajurkar, a research scientist at the Salk Institute, examines a greenhouse of genetically-engineered soybeans Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, at a research farm in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Plants with contrasting root systems, genetically engineered, left, and not, are displayed at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

Todd Michael, a research professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, works at his lab in La Jolla, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

Russians on Friday began three days of voting in the country’s first wartime parliamentary election, which features virtually no opposition and is all but certain to secure the Kremlin’s political dominance.

Authorities spread the election over the weekend, ending Sunday, in a bid to boost turnout among the 111 million eligible voters, and they even allowed electronic balloting. Turnout was about 30% as of late Friday, including online voting, according to the Central Election Commission.

The Kremlin wants the parliamentary election — the first since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — to underline public support for the war and give a veneer of legitimacy to its action. It has sought to avoid any political risks by stamping out even the slightest sign of dissent.

“Your choice and resolve will once again demonstrate that millions of people stand behind our fighters, that we are a united people, bound by shared values, historical memory, and love for the Motherland,” President Vladimir Putin told the nation before the vote.

The Kremlin said Putin voted online Friday and released images of him in front of a computer screen.

The main Kremlin party, United Russia, is all but assured to retain its overwhelming control of the lower house, the State Duma. Several smaller parties of the “systemic opposition” that vote in sync with the government on all key issues also are expected to retain their presence.

Voters cast two separate ballots, filling half of the Duma’s 450 seats by selecting political parties listed on the ballot. The rest are contested in single-seat constituencies, with voters choosing individual candidates.

Russians interviewed by The Associated Press expressed different expectations from the election.

Dmitry Kirillin in Moscow said earlier this week that he would like “to see some changes. To see a different party” at the helm. But Muscovite Alexander Vertukhin believed “what United Russia and the communists are doing is quite sufficient; their platforms cover everything.”

Speaking at a Moscow polling station Friday, pensioner Galina Vavilova said she thought ending the war in Ukraine “is the main thing, of course.”

“That is the most important thing right now. Everyone wants peace, that’s what it comes down to. So that our guys are safe and sound,” she said.

Another pensioner, Lyudmila Kalinina, wished for life “to stabilize for the better” and for “an end to the big divide between the ultra-rich and the extremely poor, because, after all, many people don't live a very sweet life.”

Vladimir Chubarev, a 72-year-old professor, expressed hope “for all the important initiatives our government is undertaking to succeed,” adding: “And, of course, for victory.”

The liberal Yabloko party, the only registered political entity that dared to criticize the war, was removed from the ballot last month by Russia’s Supreme Court, and only has a few dozen candidates in the single-constituency races. Additionally, some anti-war politicians have been imprisoned or forced to flee abroad ahead of the campaign.

The election follows a summer of Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on oil refineries that triggered a widespread fuel crisis. Warehouses belonging to online retailers Wildberries and Ozon also were attacked. The damage has exacerbated problems for the Russian economy and brought the war home for millions.

In Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, polling stations were briefly closed because of a threat of a drone attack, local officials said. One polling station in the Krasnodar region had to be set up in a different venue after a drone shattered windows there, said Central Election Commission head Ella Pamfilova.

For the first time, the parliamentary election includes residents of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed after the war began, but still doesn't fully control. Voting also is taking place in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

Voters dropped their ballots in a box at one polling station in the Russian-held part of the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine as an armed Russian soldier stood nearby and watched.

In the Russian-held Luhansk region, 14 polling stations were using backup power sources after Ukrainian drones damaged electrical lines, Pamfilova said.

Separately, Russian officials said Ukrainian attacks earlier this week killed a polling station chief and wounded another in the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia region. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the accusation.

Authorities in Kyiv denounced the voting in the Russian-held areas as illegal and urged foreign governments and international organizations not to recognize the election, warning Ukrainians that taking part in organizing the balloting could carry criminal liability.

European Commission spokesperson Christian Wigand also called the voting in Russian-held regions “illegal” and said the European Union condemns it.

“These so-called elections represent yet another blatant violation of international law. The European Union does not, and will never recognize either the holding of these, so-called elections, sham elections, in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine or their results," he said.

Wigand said the way the elections are held “underscores the continued and deepening erosion of democracy in Russia," and that the Kremlin “deprives voters in Russia of a genuine choice about the future of their country.”

He also noted that Russia decided not to invite observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, disregarding its commitments. He vowed the EU will continue to support Russian civil society organizations, human rights groups and independent media.

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Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed.

Voters cast ballots at a polling station during Russia's parliamentary election, in the Russian-controlled part of the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)

Russian President Vladimir Putin votes online in the parliamentary election, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Voters leave voting booths during the parliamentary election in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, with an image of Soviet novelist Valentin Pikul on the wall. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Voters use an electronic voting system in the parliamentary election in Moscow, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

A voter holds her ballot prior to voting in the parliamentary election in Vladivostok, Russia, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)

Russia's Security Council Deputy Chairman and the head of the United Russia party Dmitry Medvedev casts a ballot in the parliamentary election in Moscow, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (Ekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik, Pool Photo via AP)

A voter casts a ballot in the parliamentary election in Vladivostok, Russia, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)

Voters cast their ballot for the parliamentary election in Vladivostok, Russia, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)

A woman leaves a voting booth to cast her ballot in the parliamentary election in Vladivostok, Russia, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)

A woman walks to cast her ballot in the parliamentary election in Vladivostok, Russia, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)

A woman casts her ballot in the parliamentary election in Vladivostok, Russia, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)