To develop such assets, the GCCRC has been researching the Brazilian cerrado and rupestrian fields. Plants in these environments have developed, throughout their evolutionary process, adaptations that have made them capable of surviving drought and high temperature conditions. Understanding which aspects make these plants more resilient and transferring these characteristics to arable crops has been the goal of GCCRC researchers. For this, the center focuses on two complementary strands: genetics and microbiomes. “The idea is to identify the variability in plant genes and the microorganisms associated with these plants, transfer them to crops such as corn, and promote improvements,” explains Ricardo Augusto Dante, a researcher at Embrapa and a member of the GCCRC.