Microbes play an important part in agriculture. They fix nitrogen in the soil into a form that can be used by plants as a fertilizer and turn grass into the winter animal feed, silage. Microbiological research in these and other agricultural topics is carried out in institutes and industry.

Farm animals and crops are susceptible to pests and diseases. Veterinary microbiologists and plant pathologists do research and give advice on problems farmers may encounter.

Microbes are also used for biocontrol. Pests or weeds can be sprayed with a microbe that attacks them instead of spraying crops with pesticides or herbicides which kill many types of harmless organisms. Biocontrol has great potential, particularly in developing countries where a sustainable method of crop protection is the preferred approach.

The environment

Microbiologists in research institutes and universities study the ecology of microbes in fresh water, the sea and other habitats.

Microbial activities can be harnessed to avoid or minimise environmental pollution. Factory wastes are treated with suitable cultures or enzymes produced from bacteria. Microbes can also be used in production processes. For example, microbes can be used to replace harmful chemicals in dye production and leather processing .

Some parts of our environment are already badly damaged by pollution. Industrial processes (and accidents) have left land contaminated with such things as toxic heavy metals and phenolic compounds. Microbial processes are being developed to clean up such pollution - known as bioremediation.