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

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4 Grants found

Improving Protein Content & Quality in Peas

Capitalizing on the Unique Viscoelastic Properties of Corn Zein for A New Commercial Plant-Based Protein

Using novel genes from wild germplasm to boost protein content in cultivated chickpea

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Improving Protein Content & Quality in Peas

Year Awarded  2021

FFAR award amount   $612,257

Total award amount   $800,000

Location   St. Paul, MN

Program   Plant Protein Enhancement Project

Matching Funders   Benson Hill, Keygene, Syngenta, University of Minnesota

Plant protein is an important part of the global diet, but there are barriers limiting plant protein’s potential. Some amino acids, which are essential to diets, are missing or less abundant in plant protein. Also, a popular plant protein, soy, is an allergen for many. One alternative to soy is pea protein, but its nutritional value lags soy. University of Minnesota researchers are studying pea protein, develop methods for screening peas with superior protein nutrition and quality and breed these traits to cultivated peas.

Capitalizing on the Unique Viscoelastic Properties of Corn Zein for A New Commercial Plant-Based Protein

Year Awarded  2021

FFAR award amount   $387,556

Total award amount   $387,556

Location   West Lafayette, IN

Program   Plant Protein Enhancement Project

Matching Funders   Open Philanthropy

Plant-based protein alternatives are a rapidly expanding market. Soy and pea proteins can closely replicate the texture of meats, but they lack the chewy quality of meat, known as viscoelasticity, which creates a tender bite. Researchers at Purdue University are studying the viscoelasticity of a corn protein, zein, to develop a new commercial meat substitute.

Increasing total protein content in pea using large-scale phenotyping and targeted breeding with genomic selection

Year Awarded  2021

FFAR award amount   $1,012,500

Total award amount   $1,200,000

Location   Fargo, ND

Program   Plant Protein Enhancement Project

Matching Funders   Benson Hill, Keygene, Syngenta, North Dakota State University, Open Philanthropy

Peas are a popular source of plant protein, their production has a limited environmental footprint and they are economically beneficial for farmers. Although breeding efforts are partially focused on improving the nutritional content of peas, this gain is not happening fast enough to meet growing demand. North Dakota State University researchers are building genomic resources, breeding models and tools for improving total protein content in peas.

Using novel genes from wild germplasm to boost protein content in cultivated chickpea

Year Awarded  2020

FFAR award amount   $500,000

Total award amount   $1,000,000

Location   Davis, CA

Program   Plant Protein Enhancement Project

Matching Funders   Open Philanthropy

The future of agriculture requires producing more food on less land in an environmentally sustainable manner. Ensuring global nutritional security depends in large part on plants that are more efficient at producing calories and protein than livestock. However, centuries of crop domestication have limited the genetic capacity to improve widely consumed crops to meet these needs. NuCicer is introducing greater genetic diversity into chickpea varieties. This research is increasing protein content and quality and developing other desirable agronomic traits in chickpeas.