The purpose of the funding was to co-fund a workshop entitled: Harnessing rhizosphere-soil-microbial interactions for increasing farm productivity and resilience of farming systems.

Soil health in combination with the use of efficient crop varieties that can harness rhizosphere and microbial interactions can increase farm productivity by up to 50%. Such an increase is essential to supply the increasing demand for food and fibre in the coming decades and to maintain profitability for farming businesses.