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

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11 Grants found

FoodShot Global Challenge #4 Water GroundBreaker Prize (Indiana)

FoodShot Global Challenge #4 Water GroundBreaker Prize (Arizona)

FoodShot Global Challenge #3 Bioactive Foods GroundBreaker Prize (Champaign, Illinois)

FoodShot Global Challenge #3 Bioactive Foods GroundBreaker Prize (Maryland)

FoodShot Global Challenge #3 Bioactive Foods GroundBreaker Prize (Massachusetts)

FoodShot Global Challenge #2 Precision Protein, Deep Dive GroundBreaker Prize (South Carolina)

FoodShot Global Challenge #1 Innovating Soil 3.0, Deep Dive GroundBreaker Prize (Maine)

FoodShot Global Challenge #1 Innovating Soil 3.0, Deep Dive GroundBreaker Prize (Colorado)

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FoodShot Global Challenge #4 Water GroundBreaker Prize (Indiana) 

Year Awarded  2024

Total award amount   150,000

Location   Indianapolis, IN

Program   FoodShot Global Challenge

Matching Funders   Builders Initiative, FoodShot Global, The Rockefeller Foundation

Grantee Institution   Atarraya

Dr. Daniel Russek’s transformative Shrimpbox technology reduces water usage by over 98% compared to traditional methods and eliminates discharges. This innovation promotes efficient water management and mitigates the environmental impact of shrimp production. Dr. Russek’s initiative integrates regenerative agriculture with sustainable aquaculture by enhancing soil health and crop productivity at Atarraya’s Smart Biotech shrimp farm in Oaxaca, Mexico, and providing a scalable model for global adaptation.

FoodShot Global Challenge #4 Water GroundBreaker Prize (United Kingdom) 

Year Awarded  2024

Total award amount   80,000

Location   London, United Kingdom

Program   FoodShot Global Challenge

Matching Funders   Builders Initiative, FoodShot Global, The Rockefeller Foundation

Grantee Institution   ThinkAqua

FoodShot Global is a collaboration between venture funds, banks, corporations, universities and foundations to improve our food system. This research creates networked clusters around locally owned hubs that provide farmers with market access, inputs and technical support. The initiative addresses small-scale farmers’ needs by ensuring a ready market for tilapia, producing high-quality seed fish and reducing production costs by using fish feed from Black Soldier Fly larvae, which also serve as organic fertilizer.

FoodShot Global Challenge #4 Water GroundBreaker Prize (Arizona) 

Year Awarded  2024

Total award amount   $250,000

Location   Tucson, AZ

Program   FoodShot Global Challenge

Matching Funders   Builders Initiative, FoodShot Global, The Rockefeller Foundation

Grantee Institution   University of Arizona, Hydro Futures

Dr. Laura Condon developed the only national platform that simulates watershed dynamics from bedrock to treetops across the United States, providing producers with cost-effective predictions and improving irrigation and crop choices at only a fraction of the cost of traditional models. Dr. Condon aims to develop new capabilities to evaluate irrigation and crop scenarios and accelerate the commercial adoption of these innovative tools.

FoodShot Global Challenge #3 Bioactive Foods GroundBreaker Prize (Champaign, Illinois) 

Year Awarded  2022

Total award amount   $120,000

Location   Champaign, IL

Program   FoodShot Global Challenge

Matching Funders   FoodShot Global

Grantee Institution   University of Illinois

FoodShot Global’s GroundBreaker Prize recognizes rising scientific stars whose research has identified technological and ecological tools that enable farmers to optimize yields and the long-term health of the land. Dr. Kaiyu Guan, Blue Waters professor at the University of Illinois and president of Habiterre, received $120,000 for his work in Innovating Soil 3.0 to develop a “system of systems” approach that can support farmer decision-making to improve soil health and provide scientifically rigorous MRV (monitoring, reporting and verification) services to ecosystem services markets.

FoodShot Global Challenge #3 Bioactive Foods GroundBreaker Prize (Maryland) 

Year Awarded  2022

Total award amount   $240,000

Location   College Park, MD

Program   FoodShot Global Challenge

Matching Funders   FoodShot Global

Grantee Institution   University of Maryland

FoodShot Global’s GroundBreaker Prize recognizes rising scientific stars whose research has identified technological and ecological tools that enable farmers to optimize yields and the long-term health of the land. Dr. Ray Weil, professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland, received $240,000 for his work at the intersection of BioActive Foods, Precision Protein and Innovating Soil to improve human nutrition by addressing low sulfur soils that may cause deficiencies in key amino acids in African countries. Dr. Weil will develop innovative management practices that use Indigenous resources and plant diversity to help soils and agroecosystems provide crops with enough sulfur to increase yields and farmer income, while enhancing the amino acid profiles – and hence the nutritional quality – of the protein in grain legumes such as bean, peanut, cowpea and soybean.

FoodShot Global Challenge #3 Bioactive Foods GroundBreaker Prize (Massachusetts) 

Year Awarded  2022

Total award amount   $120,000

Location   Roxbury, MA

Program   FoodShot Global Challenge

Matching Funders   FoodShot Global

Grantee Institution   FoodShot Global

FoodShot Global’s GroundBreaker Prize recognizes rising scientific stars whose research has identified technological and ecological tools that enable farmers to optimize yields and the long-term health of the land. Josh Trautwein, CEO of About Fresh, received $120,000 for his work in BioActive Foods to deploy user-centered design and technology, including the Fresh Connect debit card, to create a scalable model for increasing access to healthy foods in low-income communities. About Fresh’s Fresh Connect platform enables healthcare organizations to make targeted investments in healthy food for people and to measure the impact of their investment, fulfilling the BioActive Foods goal of improving access to nutrient-dense and optimized foods that support brain, immune system, cardiovascular, metabolic and gut health.

FoodShot Global Challenge #2 Precision Protein, Deep Dive GroundBreaker Prize (Netherlands) 

Year Awarded  2021

Total award amount   $150,000

Location   Wageningen, Netherlands

Program   FoodShot Global Challenge

Matching Funders   FoodShot Global

Grantee Institution   Wageningen University

FoodShot Global’s GroundBreaker Prize recognizes rising scientific stars whose research has identified technological and ecological tools that enable farmers to optimize yields and the long-term health of the land. Dr. Hannah Van Zanten received $150,000 for developing a European circular food systems model (CiFoS), which is now extending to a global model. The extended model can ultimately benefit U.S. farmers and agricultural stakeholders.

FoodShot Global Challenge #2 Precision Protein, Deep Dive GroundBreaker Prize (South Carolina) 

Year Awarded  2021

Total award amount   $200,000

Location   Clemson, SC

Program   FoodShot Global Challenge

Matching Funders   FoodShot Global

Grantee Institution   Clemson University

FoodShot Global’s GroundBreaker Prize recognizes rising scientific stars whose research has identified technological and ecological tools that enable farmers to optimize yields and the long-term health of the land. Dr. Dil Thavarjah, Associate Professor of Pulse Quality and Nutrition and Clemson University School of Health Faculty Research Scholar at Clemson University, received a $200,000 for developing an integrated process for organic plant protein productions from the field to isolation.

FoodShot Global Challenge #1 Innovating Soil 3.0, Deep Dive GroundBreaker Prize (Maine) 

Year Awarded  2019

Total award amount   $35,000

Location   Freeport, ME

Program   FoodShot Global Challenge

Matching Funders   FoodShot Global

Grantee Institution   Wolfe's Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment

FoodShot Global’s GroundBreaker Prize recognizes rising scientific stars whose research has identified technological and ecological tools that enable farmers to optimize yields and the long-term health of the land. Dr. Dorn Cox, Research Director, Wolfe's Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment, was awarded a $35,000 GroundBreaker “Seed” Prize to support his ambitious vision of using Open TEAM to collect environmental data, providing access to comprehensive global agricultural knowledge to help growers make sustainable and profitable farm management decisions.

FoodShot Global Challenge #1 Innovating Soil 3.0, Deep Dive GroundBreaker Prize (Netherlands) 

Year Awarded  2019

Total award amount   $250,000

Location   Wageningen, Netherlands

Program   FoodShot Global Challenge

Matching Funders   FoodShot Global

Grantee Institution   Wageningen University

FoodShot Global’s GroundBreaker Prize recognizes rising scientific stars whose research has identified technological and ecological tools that enable farmers to optimize yields and the long-term health of the land. Dr. Gerlinde de Deyn received a GroundBreaker Prize to determine soil components that enhance plant productivity and allow for better absorption of nutrients, suppress disease and reduce environmental strain.