Could lunar farms be in our future? (Image credit: Getty Images)

A combination of fungi and compost could make lunar regolith more fertile and one day help astronauts grow crops on the moon, according to new research based around experiments with chickpea plants.

Future outposts on the moon will need to be as self-sufficient as possible to avoid the high cost of constantly shuttling supplies from Earth . If crops can be grown on the Moon it would be a significant step toward this.

The problem is that the dirt on the moon — what we call regolith — isn't particularly good for growing plants.

Unlike soil on Earth, which is full of organic matter, regolith contains no microorganisms and no organic material in general. And, while it does contain some vital nutrients, it is also full of toxic metals such as aluminum, copper and zinc.…