Speaker 1  0:02  
Welcome back to Plantopia. Plantopia is the plant health podcast of the American Phytopathological Society. And I'm your host, Jim Bradeen. I'm a professor of plant pathology and associate vice president at Colorado State University. And today we're gonna talk with Dr. Prasanna Kankanala. Prasanna earned her Bachelor's in genetics with a minor in botany and chemistry from St. Anne's College for Women in India, a bachelor's in biology and a PhD in genetics, both from Kansas State University. And as a PhD student, Prasanna worked under the direction of Professor Barbara Valent. Her PhD dissertation is actually titled cell biology and gene expression profiling during the early biotrophic invasion of the rice blast, fungus magnaporthe arising. So, Prasanna is a plant pathologist through and through and she's had a very diverse career path that has included industry, academia and the nonprofit sector. And her roles have included a senior research associate and scientist at Eden Space Systems Corporation, research associate at Kansas State University, and postdoc at the Noble Research Institute. And in 2020 Prasanna join trace genomics. That's a company that's based in Ames, Iowa that describes itself as a pioneer in the use of data science to activate the hidden insights in your soil. Prasanna has quickly moved through the ranks at trace genomics and in February of this year was appointed director of research and development. And in this role, Prasanna manages and drives research development of soil science and data science capabilities on behalf of the company, providing customers with biological and chemistry data interpretation. Prasanna has an impressive molecular biology and data science skill set, as well as an impressive publication record. She serves on the microbiome Working Group at the International phyto biome Alliance. And today, we're gonna talk with Prasanna about her career path, her passions and her experiences. And we're going to learn about the important ways that the plant and soil micro biomes impact plant health. I will also discuss technological advances that are positioned to improve both environmental sustainability and the growers bottom line. Prasanna, welcome to Plantopia.

Unknown Speaker  2:29  
Thank you, Jim, thanks for the invitation.

Speaker 1  2:31  
Absolutely. We're delighted to have you here. And let me congratulate you on your recent promotion to Director of Research and Development. That's, that's huge.

Unknown Speaker  2:39  
Thank you appreciate that acknowledgement.

Speaker 1  2:42  
So I'm curious off the bat, how did you get into the field of plant pathology?

Speaker 2  2:49  
That is a very interesting story. I had never imagined that would be in plant pathology. Growing up, I always wanted to be a medical doctor. I always was very enticed with the concept or the ability to heal people. So I tried my best to get into medical school back in India. I grew up in India. And I couldn't do that it was extremely competitive there. And after that, I went into college. And when I went to college, I said, you know, what if I can't work with humans, or work with plants, because in my high school studies, when I took zoology, they made me cut open an earthworm and a cockroach and a frog. And I did not like cutting hoop and animals. It was very, very difficult for me to do. So I said, I love plants. And when I go with plants, I did a bachelor's in botany, genetics and chemistry back in India. I did a three year bachelor program then, I was very fascinated with genetics. I think one of my genetics teacher and actually one of my friends in that course. They really inspired me, I really love the way they spoke about genetics. So after finishing that, as I was trying to explore my career options, I always had that soft corner for human medicine. So when an opportunity came up, I actually came to the United States to explore the option of a career in the medical field physiotherapy option. I think I came in here for the Saudi the physician assistant program is what I came to the United States for. I went to Jefferson College of Medicine and Virginia. It is a group of it was a medical college associated with a with a group of hospitals there. I was very excited about that program. Before coming to this country, they gave me a structure for the program that I was very fascinated about. But when I came here, things didn't work out as expected. So long story short, I said, You know what, if I can be with humans, I'll be with plants. So I ended up at Kansas State, and I wanted to explore a career in plant biology. I I wasn't. And back in India when we did plant biology when we did botany with it pathology with a taxonomy. We did ecology, we did everything together. And I never realized that plant pathology existed as a carrier by itself. So when I came to Kansas State, this at that time, I'm talking about 20 years ago, they wanted the university wanted me to do another bachelor's because India did a three year bachelor program, they didn't know how to translate it into a four year bachelor program here. So they said, We want you still to do some coursework for a bachelor. So I ended up doing the second bachelor's in biology at Kansas State and followed by that as I was exploring options, I really liked the research projects that Dr. Barbara Wallen had in the Department of Plant Pathology at Kansas State, I met her in person, and I really loved her so much. He said, You know what, if I really have to explore this option, I'd rather go with her. And I think what fascinated me the most was she worked on rice, plants disease, all her career. And I ate rice every single day, when she gave me to production. And she said, here are your two options, if you want to come to my lab, and I've led them up in that project. And, you know, the connectivity for me to be able to work on a crop that sustained me all my life was very exciting. So that's how I jumped into this field of plant pathology, I was still in an interdepartmental genetics program, but through the Department of Plant Pathology, and then just rest was history. That's how I ended up in plant path.

Speaker 1  6:35  
It's amazing to me how many of our colleagues have a story that really starts with human medicine. And then through various fortunate opportunities, I'll say, these individuals have ended up in plant pathology. So that's a very interesting story. And we're happy to have you in the field. So after you graduated, you've had a number of professional experiences you worked. I remember correctly, you worked first in industry, and then you worked on a nonprofit, the Nobel Foundation, and you've also worked in academia, and state. And now you're back in industry. So you've got really broad perspectives of what plant pathology is. And I guess my first question in this regard is, why are you in industry today? What are the advantages from your perspective of a career in industry?

Speaker 2  7:30  
My motivation for industry, Jim has always been I wanted to see what I did translate into the field. I think that inspires me so much, I want to see the translational aspect. And that's what brought me to industry. When I graduated out of Kansas State, I was involved in a great research program there, I could have had a great career in research as an academic professional. I love teaching. But I always ask the question, When will I see this information translate? How do I even think about translating this basic research so that you know the user in the field, the farmer can take advantage of it. And I felt like I didn't have that proper understanding and how that that works. So I really wanted to go into industry and gain that experience. So at that time, when I graduated, there was this new startup that came into Manhattan, Kansas, where I was graduating out, and I went and interviewed with them. And I think it was a very good insight for me to think about, how do you think about research in our industry set up in our biggest industry is always oriented towards bringing the product out. And that experience there gave me the pathway to do two things through the lens of a customer to think through the lens of commercial and sales and marketing, which does not happen when we are in the academic world. And the looking at things through the lens of the customer was the most exciting part for me when I was there, that was a biofuel industry. I was working on plant regulatory elements at that time. That was a short dig that I did, which was very exciting. It was a very good experience for me going from academia, academia into industry. After that, I came back into the not a nonprofit set of Noble Foundation. That is because that was I really wanted to be in more than plant diseases and Plant Pathology kind of an area because I was into biofuels. And I realized that biofuels was not my piece of cake, surely. So I wanted to come back in there. And when that opportunity came up, I grabbed that opportunity. And in that nonprofit setting, it was really amazing because, you know, there was no pressure that I had to generate these datasets to, to write grants for external funding. We had our own internal funding at Noble Foundation. So that gives me that space. To explore, it gave me the the space to explore new technologies, new methodologies and to look at research from a very different lens. So I think that was a huge learning experience for me at the time. That is, when I actually, for the first time ever explored the world of microbiome, I was working on soil borne pathogens, which was, it was fun to try copses Omni Water, it's called cotton root rot pathogen, but on alfalfa, it's also called as Texas root rot. And there was a great reputation for that in that part of the country and the reputation for that pathogen as a suicide for, as I said, Professor jobs. So the said, if you had a good friend truly in states like Oklahoma, and Arizona, and if you were interviewing for a position and the planned path department, they would advise you to not take up the position if they asked you to work on this disease. So it was a notorious pathogen to work with. And yeah, I went in there, and I realized what it was all about. And my advisor there was very, very supportive. He knew that this is a very difficult pathogen to work with, but it was of interest for the local folks. And that's what Noble Foundation was all about. So they had the funds, if I put out a very disruptive idea, they were willing to embrace it. And that's how I explored the options of RNA, I explored the options of microbiome research. And when I figured out the role of the interactions of those microbes in the soil, not just a standalone pathogen, plant where you know, plant and pathogen interactions, but that holistic environment, I realized that there was so much to learn. And, and once I finished that project, the projects ignoble Foundation, there was an opportunity that opened up at trace genomics and I, with my interest in microbiome and their interest in microbiome, we felt it was a perfect match. And it always worked. And because of my interest in always creating a product, or doing research that is going to translate into a product that is going to be applied in the field. That was the greatest motivation from ADD and move back to industry from Noble Foundation, and, you know, work on on the technology development, I still love doing research, I can't be a complete product or commercial salesperson. So I think I'm in that perfect position where I can I get to do the research and align it with the market.

Speaker 1  12:32  
Nice, exciting. They want to delve into your interest in microbiome, your research and microbiome and in just a moment, I'm curious though, if in terms of your experience, as an industry professional, what do you think is one of the most common misperceptions of industry careers in plant pathology?

Speaker 2  12:53  
You know, when I was in academia, a lot of the research that I did was very fundamental knowledge, which I think it's very important for us to understand, you know, answer those questions and move forward towards a practical question. For example, I was working a lot on plant pathogen interactions, I was trying to understand the molecular basis of that process. Because I think that's very fundamental for us to understand that. But moving forward into industry, industry is driven by economics, I mean, that at the end of the day makes a difference, right? Everything's driven by economics, but it is highly impact oriented. And for anything to be impact oriented, and driven by economics, the solution has to be scalable. So I think that's where the difference lies, a lot of the r&d that I do right now is keeping in the mind about the kind of impact it has on field on the customer. Now, in a lab setting, everything is picture perfect. We look for the perfect science, the solutions, the answers to those questions. But when we take that solution into the field, there's so many environmental factors that make a difference. And it's never as picture perfect all the way we'd love to have that. So when it comes to the field, it has to be impact oriented. So I think it's that frameshift in the mind, from perfect science to that impactful science. That is the major difference that goes between academia and industry. And part of that is also because in today's day and time, there are so many challenges, pressing challenges, and we are racing against time. So sometimes even if the impact is 20% or 50%, or 60%, I think we should be going for those solutions. And we will evolve, evolve, and we'll get better at our solutions. But that is the major difference that I perceive in industry versus academia.

Unknown Speaker  14:43  
That's really interesting. So impact matters here.

Speaker 2  14:46  
Right. Impact matters and is that impact significant enough it does not have to be the best impact but if it's significant enough, then it's ready to go out into the market.

Speaker 1  14:58  
Great So you, you mentioned it's been 20 years or so since you were in grad school. And no doubt you've grown as a professional, you've learned a lot in that period of time. If you could go back and have a conversation with yourself back as a grad student, knowing that you would end up in a successful career in in industry, what advice would you give that person?

Speaker 2  15:28  
The first thing I would give is have confidence. I think the number one trait that I feel is having confidence in your own capability, don't have to be perfect. You don't have to know everything, but just have confidence in what you do. And that is going to take you over normally. I think that one thing that if I had to have that conversation with myself, I would say that the second thing I would say to myself is clarity, clarity on what I want to do. Is the second thing, I think these are the two big things, clarity and competence.

Speaker 1  16:09  
Good advice. For all of us, actually. am curious, you mentioned that Barbara valent had the quite a impact on your career and your your professional growth. Are there other mentors that have been really critical in your your growth?

Speaker 2  16:26  
Yes, I would definitely name at least three of them. One is, of course, Barbara Vallon. I think she had more confidence in me than I did. I think that was the one that really, I wouldn't have been here, if not for her mentorship. Forrest Shamli, who is Barbara's husband was also the Associate Dean of Research at Kansas State University, a very good friend of mine, I think he was another person who always inspired me. And I could have a conversation with him at any point of time and gain my own clarity. Then he was a great mentor, Dr. Jan Lee, who was also on my advisory committee, PhD Advisory Committee was another person who had a huge influence. I think just looking at her passion, to science in the classroom setting the way she thought the way she would ask questions. I think those were the things you know, that inspired me so much. And I will always be grateful for having them on my advisory committee board.

Speaker 1  17:27  
That's great mentors are so critical to our growth and might have dimension I have the privilege of working with Jan leach now at Colorado State University, and she actually was a guest playing topia earlier this season. So really an individual have immense impact.

Speaker 2  17:45  
Absolutely, I remember I can the only image I've ever had of Jan as this beautiful broad smile, no matter. You know, when I saw her in the hallways, it was always a pleasure to be around with her. I know she moved to Colorado State halfway through my program. While I was still at TSA. And today, I feel so honored and so privileged and humbled to sit down at five I am the lions committee along with her. So she has had a huge role as well. And my career.

Speaker 1  18:18  
Well cheers to all the great mentors out there. Now I'd like to talk a bit more about science. You've mentioned microbiome, and you've talked about microbes in terms of positive influence on plant. Um, could you tell me a little bit about what the microbiome is the start, the

Speaker 2  18:37  
microbiome is a very, very broad term. It's all the microbes that live in association in a given environment. So when we talk about phyto, biomes, it could be all the micro biomes that are all the microbes that are on the leaves that are on the stem that are in the roots interacting with the sower. So microbiome is a very broad term, where it's the bio system of all the microbes interacting with each other.

Unknown Speaker  19:05  
That includes pathogens,

Speaker 2  19:07  
everything it includes, yeah, it includes everything, all kinds of microbes.

Speaker 1  19:14  
So thinking about plant health holistically as you're describing it, what are some of the positive benefits that microbes play in plants.

Speaker 2  19:23  
Other microbes play a huge role in every single process, whether we talk about nutrient uptake by the plants with all the fertilizers that we're putting in there, microbes play a critical role a key role in making them more plant available. microbes play a key role in greenhouse gas emissions. microbes play a role in water quality in maintaining water quality, they play a huge role in plant growth promotion, in yield benefits. So you think about every aspect of the play a very, very critical role in soil texture. They play a critical role in soil health. So the whole, any aspect of microbe plant and the agricultural systems we talk about, they have a heavy influence. Again, you talk about bad microbes, they also cause diseases. And I always say, I think there's maybe less than one or 2% of all the microbes that are present in the, in our planet that we have ever identified. And out of that, maybe just 5% or less of the ones that cause diseases. All the others are involved in other processes, which we probably don't know the complete landscape. But what that what that tells me as a person is that the microbes are there not to bother me, but most of the microbes are there to help me and this is a you know, I always keep saying, If I think about it, we are all that topsoil in the making and microbes will play a role in that in the future.

Speaker 1  20:57  
Yeah, microbes are certainly important, environmentally, and to plant health overall, of course, there's a lot in the press these days about the human microbiome and the influence of gut microbes, for example, on all kinds of characteristics in humans, then so it does make sense that that same sort of impact is happening in plants as well, and reminded that there's a long history of commercial agricultural inoculants, could you tell us a little bit about inoculants, as they've been used historically, some of the successes and challenges of those technologies?

Speaker 2  21:31  
Yeah, historically, there's been a long, they've been there for quite some time. But I think in the recent years is a lot more of those coming into the market. Now that the whole space of biologicals and inoculants biostimulants, relatively new to this area, it's just been the past few years have been working on in this area. But it's been a huge learning curve. So the biggest challenge there, the greatest challenge is adoption, and trust by the growers. And this is something that I keep hearing over and over and over again. In other someone, this one person hook one farmer that will come and say, Hey, this micro was great, I had this yield benefit, and someone else's tries it and they don't get the benefit. That inconsistency in the performance of the of this microbial inoculants in the field is the greatest challenge. And I feel like that in itself is the greatest opportunity for us a science to explore because if you think about a chemical molecule, no matter where I put it, I put it in a desert, I put it in a rainforest, I put it in an agricultural land or an urban atmosphere, it predominantly performed similarly, because it's a chemistry. But a microbe is a living consciousness, I see it always has a mind of its own, it's a life form. So when I take a life form and introduce into an ocean of life forms there, it has to establish itself and then it has to perform, and the LifeFone will always get impacted by every single aspect of the changes in the environment as well. So there is a lot more, we can never treat a biological, like a chemistry molecule. So the kind of research the kind of support system that we need to bring about for these inoculants the biologicals to be successful is a very different landscape than looking at it from the lens of how you've brought in the chemical inoculants into the into the market space over the last few decades.

Speaker 1  23:26  
That's really interesting. That brings us to trace genomics and your current role, what I understand that the approach you're taking is a little bit different than the traditional inoculation. Tell me a bit more about what trace genomics does and what your approach is all about.

Speaker 2  23:43  
We bring in the chemistry, the physics and the biology together, because we feel like if you need to look at agricultural systems, we have to have a holistic approach. We cannot look at the microbiome by itself and the chemistry by itself, it is high time we integrate all these parameters together. So at the core of our technology is the meta genomic pipeline that we have, we do a whole shotgun, meta genomics of the soil microbiome. And we look at that and from that, we integrate that with the chemistry so we do the chemistry analysis. And we do the carbon we have a carbon measurement capabilities. And we also have a soil textured measurement capability. So we bring in all these different aspects of the soil together. And from that we've developed what is called as the test tes tres environmental soil system called the test. The analytical engine. It's five, six to seven years of are working on this bioinformatics pipelines, the managing and sequencing and integrating all these other layers with come up with this engine. And this engine is the one that propels all the actionable insights that we put out for our customers. And we have three different customers. You can think about it as three different verticals our big customer motors ag retail. And for them, it's about, you know, the big ag retail it's all about yield for the grower yield is what matters. So for them, it's all about disease management, nutrient input, or any other kinds of inputs in on the farm. So we look at the week of mind, the chemistry, the carbon, the texture, and the biology data. And we give them a holistic view of what's happening in the field in a manner that they can take actionable insight, should they put phosphorus liberating agents? Should they put phosphorus biologicals, where would they expect the performance to be better what kind of pathogens are in the fields, what kind of preventive measures should be should they be taking what kind of management and cultural practices would help them, so it's looking at from a very holistic point, that's what we do for ag retail, we and and it's part of our technology, what we also do is we give them a seed solution guide based on the crops and diseases so that it's going to be easy for them to sit with their agronomist, or their, you know, whoever they get their seeds from, and figure out what is the best hybrid varieties selection or what kind of crop protection or seed treatments so they have to do. So, this is almost if you can think about it as a one stop shop, where you get, you know, a very holistic view of the soil environment. The other vertical that we have is we cater to the ESG goals of the CPG companies, as we are entering into the world with you know, as always called the world is in a state of transition, we talk about climate change, we talk about the changing needs, we talk about the soil erosion, we talk about the challenges with a water resources, nutrient fertilizer, you know, challenges that we've seen in the last couple of years. So, and all the customers also in fact, I myself as a customer, when I go to shop, I look for goods that are, you know, made in a more sustainable manner or Fairtrade, you know, options is what I look for. So, for the, for the CPG companies, you know, deer for the day are looking at sustainably produced products, and agricultural products, you know, flood the whole market, what we have is for them to meet their sustainable goals, we look at the sustainability of the soils. So we we look at the carbon and we look at the admission admissions, we look at the capability of the soils to hold nutrients, we look at the capability of the soils to hold water, we look at the biodiversity of the soils and came a sustainable sustainability score. So it's a very objective score for these companies to figure out how they're doing. The other third vertical that we have is biological product companies and agricultural input companies. It could be chemical or biological, but given how the market spaces right now, we work with a lot of biological and biostimulant companies. And share the biggest challenge, as I mentioned a few minutes ago is gaining trust, that is the one word that resounds everywhere when you talk, go and talk to growers is trust. It's very interesting that a lot a lot of the surveys that have been done in the last few years, the pharmacy that we are willing to try, but we don't think we are seeing or responsive. We don't trust that the product is going to work. But they are open to trying. And all these days, we need more education, we need the data to convince us that this is gonna give me a benefit. So I think the onus I feel like is on the research community to help that framework. I think we even we need to understand how to develop that framework because I don't think they have it. We haven't done enough work to show when a biological will perform or where it will perform

Speaker 1  28:53  
Crossed, you know environment, a farmer's field, for example. I would expect that over pretty short distances, you could have very different micro environments that could influence the the impact of the microbe. How does your How does your approach deal with that? Is it through more extensive sampling? Or how do you tackle that that natural variation that we see across the landscape?

Speaker 2  29:20  
Right? It is a yeah, that is a very common question. We get Jim from a lot of our customers as well.

Speaker 1  29:27  
I thought it was a very insightful question. And it was so common.

Speaker 2  29:31  
Yeah, it is very common question. Actually. It is true that there are different kinds of microbes. But when you look at the functional microbiome and you look at it function, those differences collapse. We've done several studies. For example, one of the studies, we have gone to Iowa, California and Texas, and we've done sampling every four weeks for two years. And then we looked at the microbiome changes. What's very interesting is yes, though, you know, there's a seasonal variation when there's a rainfall event, post rainfall, there is a change. But the microbes who isn't there varies, but what do they do does not vary as much. Now, when we're talking about an agricultural landscape, when I, if I'm a farmer, I want to know what is the capability of those microbes in order to help nutritional support nutrient cycling, will they make nitrogen more available are the phosphorus solubilizes are there phosphorus mineralization are the plant growth promoting microbes. And when we did our extensive studies, what we have seen is that they don't change much. In fact, phosphorus solubilizes, and phosphorus analyzers are one of the most stable populations across geographies, then they will shift a little bit based on you know, your aggregate your cultural practices, based on if there's a major drought, what we've also seen as that the nitrogen microbes in that nitrogen cycle are definitely way more sensitive to environmental perturbations. But what we've also seen is that when temperatures and you know, come back to normal, the microbes also compact, They normalize, as well. So, yes, the microbes will differ. But again, in the ocean of microbes, I am not concerned about what all those microbes are doing. Because first of all, we don't know what all those microbes are doing the microbes that are very critical for my functional from my functions in the field. How did the APA, and it's very interesting to see how the difference collapses once we go to the functional microbiome. And I think therein lies the trees, the strength of trace genomics, as well as because early on our co founders, two postdocs from Stanford, were the co founders of this company, they decided they'd go and use the meta genomics platform and instruct the applicant sequence. And that was a big decision for them to make because amplicon sequencing was much, much more was less expensive compared to the marriage genome sequencing. But then they had this long term vision of the functional microbiome because it's the functions that are more important than knowing who isn't there. And they've invested in this technology. And I think we are really seeing the benefits of that. Now.

Speaker 1  32:17  
That's really interesting. And you've mentioned the functional microbiome, but you're also equating that to meta genomics. So are you actually testing function? Or are you inferring that from DNA sequence?

Speaker 2  32:33  
We so just to take a step back, we do whole shotgun managing I'm sequencing. So we don't amplify a small piece of the genome, but we amplify the whole gene, we sequence the whole genome. So what that gives us as it gives us the information of the genes in the microbiome. So when we, when we say the functional microbiome, let's say if I have a given soil sample, I look at the gene pool for all the genes involved in the pathway of phosphorus solubilization, phosphorus mineralization, free living nitrogen fixation, nitrification denitrification. So I'm actually looking at the gene pools in that particular soil and say, here is the potential of phosphorus solubilization. And your soil here is the potential for denitrification and your soil. And we say, hey, if your potential for denitrification is high, maybe that's where you should be putting your nitrification inhibitors. That's how you place your product, a smart way to place your product. If you're if your microbiome for phosphorus solubilization and mineralization is doing great, you have really good microbiome there. Keep doing what you're doing, you're doing the right thing there. So it's all about looking at the at the functions of that microbiome by looking into the gene pools of that particular soil.

Speaker 1  33:56  
And so ultimately, you don't care who's fixing nitrogen, or example. You're looking at the Broad consortium that's present and asking, Does this consortium have that capacity? Yeah. And then you're making you're making grower recommendations based on those observations?

Speaker 2  34:17  
Right. So here's another caveat. And I always mentioned this, I always say, nitrogen fixation potential, or D nitrification. Potential because we're mentioning the genes. We're not mentioning the transcriptome, is it actually doing it or not, is not what you're measuring. But what we have seen repeatedly over and over in our datasets is that when we get soil samples from farms, where they've done that, you know, very purposive and regenerative practices versus a very conventional monocropping, heavy to lift systems, we very clearly see the difference of the genes. So we validated our technology, you know, with our with our customers on field day To set. But yes, what we look at, look at is the gene bowls. And yes, we don't ask who is performing the function? The question is, are they performing the function?

Speaker 1  35:11  
So the technology that the broad holistic approach that you're taking reminds me of IPM. In some ways, obviously, the the goal is different. But really you're synthesizing information from multiple different disciplines to come up with a single unified approach that helps us leverage microbes for the benefit of plants.

Speaker 2  35:34  
Yeah, that's a good way to put it. And there's another way also put it is that you think about the microbiome and the technology that we do, I say we are the 23andme for soils.

Speaker 1  35:45  
All right, like that might run into some trademark issues there. I don't know. Certainly something I can relate to. Yeah. So it sounds as though the field of vital biome is progressed a lot in the last 1015 20 years. When you're looking forward and thinking broadly, not only about what trace genomics is doing, but the broader agribusiness industries. What do you envision as some of the biggest opportunities that are still out there for agriculture?

Speaker 2  36:21  
I think one of the real unexplored area for us in the field of agriculture, I think, is that holistic soil health is something that we haven't paid much attention to, I think there's been a lot of emphasis over the years in terms of inputs for us to get out a certain output. And over the years, what we have seen as the soil health had degraded, and part of the reason I think why that has happened is in spite of our best efforts is that we have never paid that attention to the soil life. We've looked at soil as chemistry. And more recently, the Haney test had come through in the recent years. But Haney test was a good move towards the biology, but it is still not comprehensive. I think where we are heading into is, if we really need to preserve our agricultural landscape and improve that landscape to meet the challenges and the needs of our world in the future. We really need to restore our soil health. And I think the way we've been doing our soil diagnostics has to change. I mean, think about it, technology has changed, agricultural practices have changed. But for the past 70/80 years, the only test that traditional tests we've been doing is all guns. I think it is really high time that we move and integrate a lot of these technological advancements, which has been in the academic area to come into the field. And I think moving into the future, I think there's going to be a huge revolution, from where I'm standing where I see is a huge revolution in the field of agriculture, driven by data analytics.

Speaker 1  37:56  
I'm excited about that can't wait Prasanna thanks so much for being our guest today on plant topia and, and for talking about industry careers, and soil health and the phyto biome.

Unknown Speaker  38:08  
Thank you, Jim. I really enjoy the conversation.

Speaker 1  38:11  
Hey, good to thanks so much. We just heard from Dr. Prasanna Kankanala, Director of Research and Development at trace genomic and I'm Jim Bradeen and the host of Plantopia. Thanks for listening.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai