Future Moon colonists might be making hummus.
In a study published March 5 in *Scientific Reports*, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University have demonstrated something remarkable: **chickpea plants can grow, flower, and produce harvestable seeds in simulated lunar soil** — with a little help from some remarkably humble assistants.
The helpers? Earthworm compost and symbiotic fungi.
**Why Moon Dirt Is Horrible for Plants**
Lunar regolith — the fine, powdery layer covering the Moon's surface — is the worst possible growing medium. It's sharp as ground glass, electrically sticky, and completely devoid of the organic matter, nitrogen, and microbial life that make Earth's soil fertile. Worse, it contains heavy metals that are toxic to plants. When NASA scientists first grew plants in actual Apollo mission lunar samples in 2022, the plants grew — but slowly, stressfully, and by absorbing metals they shouldn't have.
'It is a hazard unamended,' says Jess Atkin of Texas A&M, co-author of the new study. 'It is the worst. It is awful.'
Atkin and her colleague Sara Oliveira Santos of UT Austin decided to ask a different question: not *can* plants grow in lunar soil, but *what does it take to make them thrive in it?*
**The Solution: Go Back to Basics**
The team turned to two of nature's most ancient plant allies.
First, **vermicompost** — fertiliser produced by red wiggler worms breaking down food waste. Rich in nutrients and teeming with beneficial microorganisms, vermicompost is nature's soil amendment. The researchers mixed it into their lunar simulant to see whether it could buffer the hostile chemistry.
Second, **arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF)** — a group of fungi that form symbiotic partnerships with plant roots. They extend the reach of a plant's root system, help sequester heavy metals away from sensitive tissues, and improve the soil's physical structure by binding loose particles into stable clumps.
The chickpea was chosen deliberately. High in protein, exceptionally hardy, and one of the world's most drought-tolerant legumes, it was the team's pick for the crop most likely to handle the stress of lunar soil.
Seeds were coated in AMF powder and planted in pots containing mixtures of lunar simulant and vermicompost ranging from 25% simulant to 100% simulant.
**The Results**
In soil mixtures containing up to **75% simulated lunar regolith**, the chickpea plants grew for weeks to months, developed flowers, and **produced viable seeds** — the key milestone for any future off-world agriculture. The fungi, critically, also helped the lunar simulant develop better structure, making it easier for roots to penetrate and for water to be retained.
Even in 100% lunar simulant — the most extreme condition — the AMF extended the plants' survival by approximately **two weeks** compared to plants without fungal assistance.
'The fact that we're able to bring these add-ons and help the plant get to such a stage that it produces seed, I think is really important,' said Santos.
**The Bigger Picture: Feeding a Moon Base**
NASA's Artemis programme is planning for long-term human presence on the Moon. When astronauts eventually live there — for months, then years — they cannot survive on resupply missions alone. Each kilogram shipped from Earth costs approximately $1 million to deliver to the lunar surface. Self-sufficiency in food is not a nice-to-have; it is an existential requirement for any permanent settlement.
Chickpeas would be a near-ideal lunar crop: calorie-dense, high in protein, capable of fixing nitrogen to improve soil over time, and — as this study suggests — willing to grow in conditions that would defeat most other plants.
The team's next steps are to investigate how the chickpeas perform across multiple generations in simulated regolith — whether each crop improves the soil slightly, building a growing medium that becomes progressively more habitable. They also plan to test whether the seeds produced are nutritionally safe for human consumption.
**A Farm on the Moon, One Worm at a Time**
There is something quietly wonderful about the route to lunar farming running through earthworms and ancient fungi — organisms that have been doing this work in Earth's soils for hundreds of millions of years. The same allies that helped plants colonise a bare volcanic planet are now being recruited to help humans build a life somewhere even more inhospitable.
Moon dirt is awful. But it's a place to start. 🌱🌕
*Sources: Scientific Reports, March 5 2026 · University of Texas at Austin · Texas A&M AgriLife · Science News · Space.com · Houston Chronicle*
