50 Years of Development of Beneficial Microbes for Sustainable Agriculture and Society: Progress and Challenges Still to Be Met—Part of the Solution to Global Warming and “Hothouse Earth”

This chapter is partly biographical and partly a challenge to current and future scientists. The progress and practice of the use of beneficial microbes in agriculture has improved and increased over the past decades. In the past 80 years, we have seen microbial agents first described, then developed both in terms of science and practice, and there are now millions of hectares planted with crops inoculated or otherwise benefitting from microbial agents. However, their promise is only partially realized, with, in my view, even greater advances still to be made. The next section describes the state of the art and the societal benefits that remain to be realized.