Fig. 2.

Proposed framework for the successful application of microbial inoculants in agriculture. A framework in which the farmers/farming industry, scientific community, and research and agricultural technology companies collectively contribute to reach the goal of successful microbial inoculant applications. Microbial inoculants must be customized for the target crop, climate, and soil properties (left panel). An increase in scientific research of plant microbiomes, culture collections, and functional characterization of potential microbial inoculants paves the way for meeting farmers’ requirements (right panel). The integration of available microbial inoculants with farmers’ requirements and the large-scale production and formulation (especially for SynComs) is performed by agricultural technology companies (center panel). Collaboration and constant feedback between all three entities is required for the success of field application.