Celebrate 10 Years of FFAR

Celebrate 10 Years of FFAR

2024 marks a decade since FFAR’s creation. We are proud of the hundreds of grants we have funded with more than 550 partners. We look forward to funding more bold food and agriculture research with new and existing partners!

FFAR is Making an Impact

We invest in research that produces actionable results. Since 2014, we have accelerated food and agriculture research to deliver agile solutions that address large-scale challenges. Through public-private partnerships, we collaborate with diverse stakeholders to pioneer the next frontier of food and agriculture research.

FFAR Stakeholders Share Impact

FFAR-funded research has real-world results. Hear from our stakeholders about how our research is having an impact.

U.S. Farmers Value FFAR Research

One thing I think all of us as farmers can attest to is that we’re always down to learn new things, to better ourselves…

Ben Klick

5th Generation Crop Farmer, Northeast Ohio

Ben Klick

5th Generation Crop Farmer, Northeast Ohio

If you have livestock, no livestock, how you market your grain, whatever, there’s always room for improvement. And I think a very positive thing about research is it is kind of our cheat sheet to help us. Hey look, let’s try that. This worked on a farm in my area, maybe if we try that, it’ll work for us too.

Ben Klick is a fifth-generation crop farmer in Northeast Ohio. He was involved with the FFAR-funded Soil Carbon Project with Dr. Lal at The Ohio State University. The research looked at ways to increase carbon sequestration on farm lands, providing tools and data to help farmers across the United States and around the world, reach their full potential as a carbon sink.

As an organic dairy producer my main concern is the well-being of our land, environment and planet.

Eric Ziehm

Owner of High Meadows of Hoosick, one of Stonyfield’s direct supply farms

Eric Ziehm

Owner of High Meadows of Hoosick, one of Stonyfield’s direct supply farms

Having access to the tools like a grazing record app, Cool Farm Tool for carbon footprint measurementand soil carbon sampling provided by the program, we were able to establish a solid baseline.

Eric Ziehm is the owner of High Meadows of Hoosick dairy farm, located near Hoosick Falls, New York. Since 2017, he has been a direct organic dairy supplier to Stonyfield Organic. His farm participates with OpenTEAM, the first open-source technology ecosystem in the world to address soil health and mitigate climate change through providing research and decision-making tools while demonstrating a collaborative approach to agriculture challenges.

There is a chronic shortfall in funding for basic research in food and ag, and this deficit is becoming wider in comparison to other major food-producing countries.

Jeff Lakner

Farmer, FFAR Advisory Council member

Jeff Lakner

Farmer, FFAR Advisory Council member

I appreciate (FFAR’s) inclusive approach which also considers the challenges faced by farmers and ranchers to manage everyday pressures of climate, pest and disease threats, as well as the economic and social impact in the ag value chain.

Jeff Lakner operates Lakner Farms, a 4500 acre diversified crop and livestock farm in east central South Dakota. He has served on FFAR’s Advisory Council related to crop research since 2017 . Comprised of farmers like Jeff, scientists and industry experts, FFAR’s Advisory Council focusing on crop research has evaluated new food, forage and fiber crop research proposals that are adaptable and economically viable

Joe Del Bosque
It's a changing world and we need to continue to do research on how we can protect our crops and continue to be productive.

Joe Del Bosque

California specialy crop farmer, FFAR Board Member

Joe Del Bosque

Joe Del Bosque

California specialy crop farmer, FFAR Board Member

And the one (resource) that everybody in California knows about is water. We are having to farm with less water, and we are trying to farm with less fertilizer and/or less labor. And yet at the same time, we've got a bigger population to feed and we're farming sometimes on less acreage because we don't have the water to do it. That's important. How do we keep this agriculture going with fewer resources. A lot of that comes back to climate change. And for us in California, climate change means the potential for drought any given year and less water supply. So we have to understand those issues and how we can adapt to the changing climate. Whether very wet years, very dry years or very hot years.

Joe Del Bosque is primarily an organic melon farmer, but he also grows almonds, cherries and processing tomatoes in the Central Valley of California. He joined to FFAR Board of Directors in order to bring a west coast perspective to the emerging climate, pest and disease risks that farmers in California face.

MWD tour
Kyle Bridgeforth
Agriculture is often the centerpoint for solutions for some of the worlds biggest problems. In order to continue being a global leader in agriculture, we need the tools to do so.

Kyle Bridgeforth

Owner of Bridgeforth Farms, FFAR Board Member

Kyle Bridgeforth

Kyle Bridgeforth

Owner of Bridgeforth Farms, FFAR Board Member

Generally, FFAR funds new technologies towards agricultural productivity and through its work downstream creates new demand for our crops as overall consumption grows.

Kyle Bridgeforth is the owner of a fifth-generation row-crop agribusiness, Bridgeforth Farms, in Tanner, Alabama. There, they use modern technology and agronomics to grow high quality agriculture products and use modern traceability and revenue management efficiencies.

Kyle Bridgeforth

A Timeline of FFAR

We are proud of FFAR’s many accomplishments since our creation in 2014. The timeline below celebrates some of our major milestones. Visit Our History webpage

Year 1
February 7, 2014

Congress established FFAR in the 2014 Farm Bil

Year 2
October 28, 2015

FFAR launched inaugural programs: the New Innovators in Food & Agriculture
Research and the Rapid Outcomes from Agricultural Research (ROAR) program

Year 3
November 16, 2016

FFAR awards our first awards to fund the 2016 cohort of the New Innovators in
Food & Agriculture Research

Year 4
June 29, 2017

FFAR established our first consortium, the Crops of the Future Collaborative

Year 5
December 20, 2018

FFAR was refunded in the 2018 Farm Bill

Year 6
July 15, 2019

FFAR awards our 100th grant to the Blackfeet Nation and Montana State
University

Year 9
May 8, 2023

FFAR supports AIM for Climate Summit
in Washington, D.C.

Year 9
December 20, 2023

FFAR unveils a Research Strategy
and restructures the six Challenge Areas to four Priority Areas including:
Agroecosystems, Production Systems, Healthy Food Systems and Scientific
Workforce Development

  • 360 grants awarded
  • $713M funding awarded
  • 1:1.4 ratio of FFAR funding to matching funds
  • 550+ funding partners

Join FFAR's 10-Year Anniversary Webinar Series!

2024 marks FFAR's 10-year anniversary. To celebrate, we are hosting monthly webinars celebrating FFAR-funded research. Mark your calendars and join as we celebrate our decade of impact.

Crop Health Webinar

Informational Session | 10-Year Anniversary Webinar Virtual

Wheat Field

Food Waste Webinar Series

Join our Food Waste Webinar Series that will share results from FFAR-funded food waste research studies, their associated innovations and future research directions.

Informational Session | 10-Year Anniversary Webinar Virtual

A woman throws a banana peel into a sorted garbage bin.

Results that Go FFAR

Our Breakthroughs outline findings and successes resulting from FFAR-funded research.

See all Breakthroughs

Building Collaborations for Technology-Driven Solutions in Agriculture

Building Food System Interventions to Support Urban & Rural Communities

Unlocking Genetic Heat Tolerance in Cattle

Impact Reports

Our Impact Reports detail the results of FFAR's research and highlight our value for the food and agriculture sectors.

Insights

FFAR Benefits American Farmers

Our Insights highlight unique perspectives from across for food and agriculture community.

See all Insights

Importance of Bacteria in Identifying Bovine Respiratory Disease

Ruth Eunice Centeno Martinez

FFAR Fellow, Purdue University

Let’s Raise a Glass on National Milk Day to the Power of Agriculture Research

Krysta Harden headshot

Krysta Harden

President and CEOUS Dairy Export Council

Building Team Chemistry: The Bigger Picture Behind Cows & Climate

Conor McCabe headshot

Conor McCabe

Animal Biology Graduate Student, UC Davis

Insight on Livestock Methane Mitigation

Dr. Rod Mackie, Professor, Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

Champaign, IL

FFAR Vet Student Fellow Research Spotlight

Anna Schaubeck

2021 FFAR Veterinary Student Research Fellow

Celebrating Innovation on National Egg Day

Paul Montgomery

Paul Montgomery

Director of Communications, United Egg Producers

How Heat Stress Impacts Swine Health

FFAR Fellow, Lauren Anderson

North Carolina State University

Dairy Cattle Metabolic Capacity: Milking It for all It’s Worth

Linda Beckett

2019-2022 FFAR Fellow

Climate change and Dairy Farming: Beating the Heat

Ananda Fontoura

2018-2021 FFAR Fellow

Research is Critical to Preventing the Next Pandemic

Tim Kurt, DVM

Scientific Program Director, October 2016- September 2022 Advanced Animal Systems

Vitamin A, Healthy Cows and Less Antibiotics

Jaime Strickland

2018-2021 FFAR Fellow

A Look at Maine Aquaculture

Tim Kurt, DVM

Scientific Program Director, October 2016- September 2022 Advanced Animal Systems

We need your help to make an even bigger impact