Scientists are exploring whether soybeans with deeper roots can help crops survive extreme weather conditions and store more carbon underground. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies are conducting this research with an $18 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund. The study aims to understand how resilient these plants are to drought and other climate-related stress, how much carbon they can store, and how to scale this technology for use in farming. To achieve this, scientists have identified 347 genes involved in carbon storage and root growth. Using gene-editing techniques, they have created soybean varieties with deeper roots. These roots can help plants access water deeper in the soil and store carbon underground, where it is less likely to be released when farmers till the land. Researchers are also working to enhance carbon storage by growing larger root systems and increasing the production of suberin, a cork-like substance in roots that breaks down more slowly than other plant tissues. Initial results from field tests are expected this fall. At a field site at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Salk researchers are growing deep-rooted soybean plants under a canopy that can open and close to control the amount of rainfall the plants receive. Underground cameras and sensors are being used to monitor the amount of carbon in the soil and observe root growth in real time. Similar testing is taking place in Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa. A 2025 study led by Wolfgang Busch, director of the institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative, estimated that if deeper-rooted soybean, corn, cotton, and canola crops were adopted in countries where genetically modified crops are already used, about a gigaton of carbon dioxide could be removed from the atmosphere annually by 2040. However, Busch acknowledges that developing and adopting new crops can take years and depends on the cooperation of industry and farmers. He notes that the adoption of herbicide-resistant crops happened quickly—within a decade—once the technology became available.