The United Nations designated 2015 as the International Year of Soils and announced that more and more farmland is suffering from poor soil quality, warning that the world's food production is confronting a significant crisis. One of the factors in degrading soil quality is salt accumulation, caused by over-irrigation of farmland. The development of salt-tolerant crops that can grow even in soil with high salinity has been gaining attention recently as a possible countermeasure. This program looks at the forefront of Japan's research on salt-tolerant crops.