Improving the health of soils also helps to improve water conservation. Among current projects contributing to advances in these areas is a collaboration between ASU researchers and a Phoenix-based soil health company. The project is using live, native microalgae to enrich soil is enabling farmers to achieve greater water use efficiency, increase crop yields and reduce negative environmental impacts. There’s a strong potential for the project to have a large-scale impact, says Enrique Vivoni, Fulton Professor of Hydrosystems Engineering in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton and the director of ASU’s Center for Hydrologic Innovations. Researchers’ goal is to see the effort to maintain better soil health result in significant increases in water conservation in agricultural uses.

See also: New algae system helps Arizona farmers grow better crops with less water, ASU News