When people think about biodiversity, they often imagine forests, endangered species or protected natural areas. Yet biodiversity plays a much more immediate role in everyday life. According to Prof. Katarzyna Hrynkiewicz, leader of the OBSIDIAN project, biodiversity is not simply a matter of conservation—it is one of the foundations of modern agriculture and food production.
Biodiversity is infrastructure. It is the living network that keeps soils fertile, plants resilient, water cycles functional and food systems stable. — Prof. Hrynkiewicz
This idea lies at the heart of OBSIDIAN, an interdisciplinary project exploring how nature-based solutions can strengthen agriculture in the face of growing environmental pressures. Rather than treating biodiversity as an environmental luxury, the project approaches it as a practical tool for addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing food production today.
Those challenges are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Agriculture is confronted with climate extremes, degraded soils, pollution, water scarcity and the growing impact of soil salinization. Systems built around a narrow range of crops and simplified ecosystems may perform well under stable conditions, but stability can no longer be taken for granted. The future of agriculture depends not only on productivity, but also on resilience.
This is where biodiversity becomes particularly valuable. Diverse plant species, healthy soils and rich microbial life help agricultural systems adapt to changing conditions and recover from environmental stress. In the OBSIDIAN project, researchers investigate resilient crop species and native bioinoculants that can support plant growth in challenging environments while reducing dependence on intensive external inputs.
At the centre of this approach lies the soil itself. While often perceived as an inert growing medium, soil is in fact a highly dynamic living system. Billions of microorganisms interact with plant roots, recycle nutrients, influence water retention and help plants cope with stress.
Microorganisms are the invisible workforce of the soil. They are tiny, but they run a very serious underground logistics company. — Prof. Hrynkiewicz
Understanding these relationships is crucial because resilient agriculture is about more than helping crops survive. It is also about the quality and safety of the food those crops produce. Healthy soils support biological processes that influence nutrient availability, plant metabolism and ultimately the composition of the food that reaches consumers.
For Prof. Hrynkiewicz, this reflects a broader shift in the way agriculture must be understood.
We cannot separate ‘healthy food’ from ‘healthy environment’ with a laboratory wall. The wall is imaginary; molecules and microbes do not respect it. — Prof. Hrynkiewicz
The project’s response to this challenge is to bring together expertise from multiple disciplines, including microbiology, plant science, soil science, chemistry, climatology, bioinformatics and artificial intelligence. Such collaboration allows researchers to examine agriculture as an interconnected system rather than a collection of isolated problems.
Importantly, OBSIDIAN is not focused solely on scientific discovery. New microbial solutions and agricultural approaches are tested under realistic conditions before they are considered for wider implementation. The aim is to ensure that promising ideas can work not only in laboratories, but also in the complex realities of farms and agricultural landscapes.
Ultimately, OBSIDIAN is driven by a simple but powerful idea: food security begins long before crops are harvested. It begins with the biological relationships that sustain soils, support plant health and help agricultural systems adapt to change. By treating biodiversity as a practical foundation rather than a secondary concern, the project offers a different vision of the future—one in which resilient food production works with nature, rather than against it.
