- Background
- What we're looking for
- What we can offer you
- Who we are
- Q&A
Climate change is intensifying the frequency and severity of heat and drought events, placing increasing abiotic stress on plants, turf, and soil systems. Lawn and garden environments, key components of urban, suburban, and recreational landscapes, are particularly vulnerable to erratic rainfall, prolonged dry periods, and heat waves that compromise plant vitality, soil structure, and long-term sustainability. To sustain healthy vegetation, homeowners, municipalities, and sports/park managers face mounting costs for irrigation, plant replacement, and resources. Compounding this pressure are water resource constraints and escalating utility costs.
Landscapes must now remain functional and attractive while relying on less water input. Yet, this challenge presents an opportunity to reimagine how we sustain green spaces. Solutions that enhance plant and soil resilience to heat and drought can deliver broad ecosystem & health benefits. Healthy lawns, gardens and soils help reduce urban heat-island effects, sequester carbon, manage stormwater, and improve human well-being, contributing directly to UN Sustainable Development Goals such as SDG-3 (Good Health & Well-Being) and SDG-13 (Climate Action).
We are looking for technologies and solutions that enhance the resilience of lawn, garden, and soil systems to heat and drought stress. We are open to approaches that strengthen roots, improve water-use efficiency, boost soil health, or sustain plant quality and yield under environmental stress.
We also welcome precision water devices and soil health dashboards that deliver insights on moisture, temperature, and soil conditions to guide irrigation and nutrient management decisions that build resilience over time. These technologies should have a positive impacts such as healthier more resilient turf, soil or plants, deeper roots, more efficient uptake or use of water, better rebound and resilience to drought and heat, higher quality or yield under stress.
- Biologicals and biostimulants
- Genetic varieties and genetically modified varieties
- Plant growth regulators
- Soil amendments or modifiers
- Microbial-based solutions
- Natural additives
- Precision water application devices
- Soil health sensing and monitoring tools
- Empirical data demonstrating efficacy with crops relevant to residential or landscape use (e.g., lawn grass, ornamental landscape trees, flowers, plants, vegetables, herbs)
- Alignment with our chosen UN Sustainable Development Goals: good health and well being; responsible consumption and production; life on land
- Available at commercial scale or show clear potential and a feasible path to scale
- Replicated, controlled trials with relevant comparisons and statistically significant benefits
- Evidence of efficacy in improving plant growth even under non-stressful conditions
- Broad applicability across lawn, garden, and related horticultural categories
- Prior submission or review by relevant government bodies (EPA, USDA, NOP, OMRI, states, etc.)
- Solutions requiring extensive equipment, time, or resources for application or maintenance
- Early-stage technologies more than ~5 years from potential market entry
- Solutions limited to a single crop, disease, or narrowly defined use case that lack broader applicability across lawn and garden systems
At Scotts Miracle-Gro, innovation is rooted in science, sustainability, and collaboration. Our 100+ research scientists, engineers, and specialists work alongside leading academic partners to create solutions that help people grow thriving lawns and gardens. With advanced facilities—including climate-controlled greenhouses, analytical labs, and prototyping centers—we move ideas rapidly from concept to market. Our expertise spans agronomy, chemistry, engineering, and product stewardship, ensuring every product balances performance with environmental responsibility. Guided by a culture of curiosity, integrity, and continuous learning, we view challenges as opportunities to advance both innovation and sustainability.
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