Can We Grow Chickpeas on the Moon?

Jun 06, 2025
By Jean-Paul McDonald
Assistant Editor, North American Content, Farms.com

Texas A&M Student Leads Breakthrough in Space Agriculture

Jess Atkin, a doctoral student at Texas A&M University, has made a groundbreaking achievement by growing chickpeas in soil made from up to 75% simulated lunar regolith according to AGRILIFE Today, Texas A&M AgriLife's digital magazine.

Her research combines agriculture and space science to explore whether life can thrive in harsh environments beyond Earth.

Inspired by the natural partnership between fungi and plants, which helped life colonize land millions of years ago, Atkin used this ancient resilience to her advantage. She enriched the lunar-like soil with helpful fungi and vermicompost. This not only improved nutrient access but also reduced toxicity in the soil, creating a more stable structure suitable for plant growth.

Chickpeas, known for their toughness and ability to grow in extreme conditions, were the focus of the study. Atkin studied 16 chickpea varieties in a USDA-supported project, identifying the most resilient strains. The experiment simulated near-space conditions to test plant and microbe performance under pressure.

NASA has highlighted the challenges of using lunar regolith due to its hazardous nature. However, Atkin’s method significantly improved the soil’s stability to Earth-like levels, bringing lunar farming closer to reality. Her findings suggest chickpeas could one day provide food and aid sustainability during long space missions.

“My grandmother could grow anything,” Atkin said. “Her greenhouse was this peaceful space where I learned about plants, soil and how everything worked together. I didn’t realize it at the time, but those moments planted a seed in me — one that eventually led me to where I am today.”

Her efforts have earned her a $150,000 NASA FINESST grant and the opportunity to work at Kennedy Space Center in the space crop production lab. Atkin continues to explore how science can answer new questions—both on Earth and beyond.

Photo credit: Michael Miller/Texas A&M AgriLife

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.