Agriculture is facing the twin challenges of unpredictable rainfall due to climate change and the requirement to reduce the use of agrochemicals. Additionally, the current agricultural practices have led to a depletion of the soil microbiome. The engineering of plant-microbe interactions and soil microbiome can enhance plant growth while reducing the use of agrochemicals. We are defining here EngCom (engineered communities) as the SynCom of the next generation, by adding genetically engineered bacteria to synthetic communities to boost the plant-growth-promoting traits and the stability of those communities. We are currently working on engineering Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas fluorescens as model species of the rhizosphere. As a first step, we are assembling open-access modular cloning toolkits to streamline the high-throughput assembly and transformation of genetic circuits in those bacteria. We are characterising DNA-memory switches (using integrases) to mediate the recording and processing of multiple soil and plant-derived signals. We are currently applying those tools to the development of a sentinel bacterium for monitoring soil health, as well as to the engineering of the rhizosphere bacteria to promote the root colonisation and the uptake of nutrients.  While our initial efforts focus on engineering individual bacterial strains, we will characterise those in soil-like conditions in the presence of natural microbiomes or SynComs. Ultimately, this work aims at establishing a synthetic biology framework for the rational design of responsive and stable microbial communities to support sustainable agriculture.