Awarded Grants
Below is a listing of our awarded grants that tackle big food and agriculture challenges.

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384 Grants found

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Dr. Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra Awarded the 2024 NAS Prize in Food & Agriculture Sciences

Year Awarded  2024

Total award amount   $1,000,000

Location   Washington, DC

Matching Funders   National Academy of Sciences (NAS)

Grantee Institution   University of California, Davis

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is awarding Dr. Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra of the University of California, Davis the 2024 NAS Prize in Food & Agriculture Sciences for pioneering studies on the evolutionary genetics of maize, a key crop species for global food production, to advance our understanding of the evolution of all crops.

FFAR Grant Addresses Emerging Pine Needle Diseases

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $74,111

Total award amount   $148,237

Location   Athens, GA

Program   Rapid Outcomes from Agricultural Research

Matching Funders   Southern Pine Health Research Cooperative, University of Florida Board of Trustees, University of Georgia Research Foundation

Grantee Institution   University of Georgia

Loblolly pine is a highly valuable tree for pulp, paper and lumber products and the tree provides a habitat for numerous wildlife species. This important pine is currently plagued by needle diseases, about which still too little is known. Current reports from industry and government forest managers indicate a recent increase in the prevalence of needle disease in the southeastern U.S., raising concern about the stability of this important commodity in the region. Led by Dr. Caterina Villari, University of Georgia researchers are developing diagnostics that detect and identify loblolly pine needle fungal pathogens.

FFAR Grant Develops Mitigation Tactics for Cocoa Frosty Pod Rot

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $100,000

Total award amount   $248,167

Location   Turrialba, Costa Rica

Matching Funders   CATIE, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique Pour le Dévelopement (French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development), Departamento de Cacao de la República Dominicana (Dominican Republic Department of Cacao), VMR Consulting and in-kind donors

Grantee Institution   Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE)

Cocoa is the central ingredient in chocolate and used in numerous products. A devastating pathogen, frosty pod rot, is compromising the cocoa industry in continental America, having recently reached the Caribbean. If not managed properly, the pathogen can cause yield losses of up to 80%, compromising farmer profits and jeopardizing an important U.S. import. Led by Dr. Mariela Leandro, Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) researchers are identifying disease control tactics.

A multiplexed chemical sensor system to automate non-invasive, in-ovo sex determination for the poultry industry

Year Awarded  2023

Total award amount   $494,956

Location   Davis, CA

Program   Egg-Tech Prize

Matching Funders   Open Philanthropy

Grantee Institution   SenseIT Ventures, Inc.

Commercially, chicks can only be sexed after they hatch, requiring producers to devote time and resources to incubating male chicks, only to cull them. Yearly, over six billion male layer chicks are culled when hatched because there is no commercial use for them. This research team is continuing development of an innovative microchip-based chemical sensor that captures volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from individual eggs as early as eight days into incubation. Machine learning can interpret the VOCs to classify eggs by gender. This research is supporting the integration of microchip sensors with a custom automated egg handling machine that sorts the sexed eggs.

High-throughput in-ovo sexing of chicken eggs using hyperspectral imaging & Raman spectroscopy

Year Awarded  2023

Total award amount   $499,331

Location   De Klomp, The Netherlands

Program   Egg-Tech Prize

Matching Funders   Open Philanthropy

Grantee Institution   HatchTech Group

Commercially, chicks can only be sexed after they hatch, requiring producers to devote time and resources to incubating male chicks, only to cull them. Yearly, over six billion male layer chicks are culled when hatched because there is no commercial use for them. This research team is using hyperspectral imaging and Raman spectroscopy to develop a commercially applicable optical technique for sexing hatching eggs by extracting and analyzing small droplets of the embryos’ allantoic fluid at the eighth day of incubation.

Project Ella

Year Awarded  2023

Total award amount   $495,990

Location   Leiden, The Netherlands

Program   Egg-Tech Prize

Matching Funders   Open Philanthropy

Grantee Institution   In Ovo

Commercially, chicks can only be sexed after they hatch, requiring producers to devote time and resources to incubating male chicks, only to cull them. Yearly, over six billion male layer chicks are culled when hatched because there is no commercial use for them. This research is further developing and scaling in-ovo sexing technology that measures a naturally occurring biomarker within the embryos’ waste fluid. This fluid differs between the sexes, allowing sorting the eggs by sex on the ninth day of development with high accuracy.

Modeling for genomic, blood & microbiological markers for liver abscesses in fed beef cattle

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $300,000

Total award amount   $633,462

Location   Lubbock, TX

Matching Funders   Genus ABS, Hy-Plains Feedyard, LLC, Texas Tech University, Veterinary Research & Consulting Services, LLC

Grantee Institution   Texas Tech University

Liver abscesses in cattle are a significant problem for beef and dairy cow producers, jeopardizing animals’ health and costing producers approximately $30 million annually. The condition occurs when bacteria cross from an animal’s gastrointestinal tract into the bloodstream and accumulate in the liver. This research is investigating genetic markers and biomarkers that contribute to the formation of liver abscesses to allow producers to make more informed breeding and management decisions to reduce susceptibility in cattle and reduce reliance on antimicrobial treatments.

Understanding liver abscess pathogenesis & risk-factors of feedlot cattle reared in conventional beef versus dairy management systems

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $300,000

Total award amount   $600,340

Location   Canyon, TX

Matching Funders   West Texas A&M University

Grantee Institution   West Texas A&M University

Liver abscesses in cattle are a significant problem for beef and dairy cow producers, jeopardizing animals’ health and costing producers approximately $30 million annually. The condition occurs when bacteria cross from an animal’s gastrointestinal tract into the bloodstream and accumulate in the liver. This research is evaluating liver abscess development in feedlot cattle reared in conventional beef versus dairy management systems to provide insight into liver abscess pathogenesis and identify biomarkers that assess the risk of liver abscessation.

Metabolomic analysis of blood plasma to identify unique biomarkers indicative of liver abscesses

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $248,641

Total award amount   $497,282

Location   Manhattan, KS

Matching Funders   Cargill, Kansas State University, Tyson Foods, United Animal Health

Grantee Institution   Kansas State University

Liver abscesses in cattle are a significant problem for beef and dairy cow producers, jeopardizing animals’ health and costing producers approximately $30 million annually. The condition occurs when bacteria cross from an animal’s gastrointestinal tract into the bloodstream and accumulate in the liver. This research is evaluating a comprehensive ‘biochemical fingerprinting’ in blood plasma collected from beef cattle with and without abscesses in the liver. Unique biomolecules in the blood of cattle with liver abscesses can help detect the onset and progression of liver abscesses and can aid evaluating antibiotic alternatives for prevention.

Associations between feeding & management practices of beef-on-dairy cattle from birth to harvest with liver abscesses

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $300,000

Total award amount   $600,000

Location   Manhattan, KS

Matching Funders   Animal Welfare Consulting and Research, Cargill, Deer Creek Feeding, LLC, Hy-Plains Feedyard, LLC, Syracuse Dairy, Tyson Foods, Veterinary Research & Consulting Services, LLC

Grantee Institution   Kansas State University

Liver abscesses in cattle are a significant problem for beef and dairy cow producers, jeopardizing animals’ health and costing producers approximately $30 million annually. The condition occurs when bacteria cross from an animal’s gastrointestinal tract into the bloodstream and accumulate in the liver. It is commonly controlled by treating entire groups of animals with antibiotics – including healthy ones – because it is difficult to determine which animals are infected. This research is evaluating the associations between feeding and management practices of beef-on-dairy cattle for which it is commonly believed the rate of liver abscesses is two to three times greater than beef cattle crossed with other beef cattle.