The heavy use of inorganic fertilisers in arable farming has led to serious environmental problems. Organic farming methods require inputs of large volumes of organic material and yields do not compete with conventional farming. This project will research and develop new N-fixing bacterial inoculants for cereal crops, which can substitute inorganic fertilisers or add value to organic fertilisers. inoculants are established for legumes, but no equivalent for non-legumes is available. Some recently discovered strains do interact with cereal plants, but they are vulnerable to high losses during storage and application. The project will isolate and test new strains as well as researching various delivery modes, including compost and microencapsulation, which will improve the survival of the bacteria during storage and application.