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

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193 Grants found

Accelerating Coffee Breeding Through Developing Tools to Screen for Critical Disease & Pest Resistance 

International Lettuce Genomics Consortium 4: Pre-competitive Foundational Research for Lettuce Breeding

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Flockfocus – Developing Automated Surveillance Tools to Safeguard Chicken Welfare 

Year Awarded  2020

Total award amount   $310,738

Location   Belfast, Northern Ireland

Program   SMART Broiler

Matching Funders   McDonald's Corporation and in-kind support from multiple partners

Grantee Institution   Queens University Belfast

Existing methods for assessing animal welfare rely on human observation and subjective scoring which can be inaccurate and time consuming. Queen’s University Belfast researchers are developing a vision-based system to monitor large numbers of birds and track individual activity patterns.

OpticFlock: Automated Monitoring of Broiler Chicken Behavior That Prioritizes Animal Welfare 

Year Awarded  2020

FFAR award amount   $232,063

Total award amount   $232,063

Location   Oxford, United Kingdom

Program   SMART Broiler

Matching Funders   McDonald’s Corporation, Munters and Tyson Foods

Grantee Institution   University of Oxford

Existing methods for assessing animal welfare rely on human observation and subjective scoring, which can be inaccurate and time consuming. University of Oxford researchers are testing a novel camera/computer system, called OPTICFLOCK, inside chicken houses to monitor bird behavior and alert producers to early signs of welfare issues, like foot pad lesions and lameness.

National Academy of Sciences Prize in Food & Agriculture Research: Zachary Lippman 

Year Awarded  2020

Total award amount   $100,000

Location   Laurel Hollow, NY

Matching Funders   Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Grantee Institution   Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Dr. Zachary Lippman was awarded the 2020 National Academy of Sciences Prize in Food and Agriculture for his work to increase crop productivity in the face of declining agricultural land and population growth through novel gene editing techniques.

FFAR Grant Supports Climate Smart Beef and Dairy Production 

Year Awarded  2020

FFAR award amount   $200,000

Total award amount   $603,500

Location   Greenfield, MA

Matching Funders   Australis Aquaculture

Grantee Institution   Greener Grazing

Methane is a potent climate pollutant that has more than 40 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide when released into the atmosphere. Ruminants, such as sheep, goats and cattle, release enteric methane from normal digestive processes primarily through “burps.” Previous research has shown that feeding a red seaweed, Asparagopsis taxiformis (AT), to cattle can dramatically reduce enteric methane emissions; however, AT is not readily available in large quantities for livestock. To address this challenge, the we awarded a $200,000 grant to Greener Grazing, LLC, a subsidiary of Australis Aquaculture, LLC, to develop the world’s first seed bank and ocean cultivation techniques for AT.

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

Grantee Institution   NuCicer

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.

Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize & Wheat for Improved Livelihoods 

Year Awarded  2020

FFAR award amount   $5,000,000

Total award amount   $35,000,000

Location   Texcoco, Mexico

Matching Funders   Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CIMMYT

Grantee Institution   CIMMYT

This project brings together partners in the global science community and in national agricultural research to accelerate the development of pest and disease resistant, highly nutritious and higher-yielding varieties of maize and wheat, two of the world's most important staple crops. Researchers are usign innovative methods that improve breeding efficiency and precision to produce varieties targeted to farmers’ needs.

Harnessing Translational Research Across a Global Wheat Improvement Network for Climate Resilience 

Year Awarded  2020

FFAR award amount   $5,000,000

Total award amount   $17,000,000

Location   Texcoco, Mexico

Matching Funders   Accelerating Genetic Gains for Maize and Wheat, CGIAR Research Program on Wheat

Grantee Institution   CIMMYT

Hotter and drier weather threatens the global wheat supply. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is leading the Heat and Drought Wheat Improvement Consortium (HeDWIC) to develop wheat designed to ensure the crop’s long-term productivity.

A Development of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Vision and Internet of Things for Livestock Health Monitoring 

Year Awarded  2020

FFAR award amount   $313,372

Total award amount   $626,745

Location   Dallas, TX

Matching Funders   Veterinary Research and Consulting Services, LLC, Precision Livestock Technologies, Inc., JBS USA Food Company, Five Rivers Cattle Feeding, LLC, Bennett Data Science, LLC, Alltech, Inc.

Grantee Institution   Colorado State University

Precision Livestock Technologies is developing tools that monitor animal movement and physical attributes to detect behaviors and visible abnormalities that could be early signs of disease.  The benefits of automated animal monitoring tools include earlier intervention and reduction in the spread of infectious diseases, reduction in unnecessary medical treatments, enhanced animal welfare and improved producer profitability.

Developing a model protocol for tracking antibiotic use and AMR surveillance for the swine industry 

Year Awarded  2020

FFAR award amount   $313,839

Total award amount   $627,679

Location   Pipestone, MN

Matching Funders   National Pork Board

Grantee Institution   Pipestone Research

The Pipestone team is collecting data on pathogens from 160 commercial swine farms in several states. These samples are being analyzed and the data will be correlated with antibiotic usage data at the farm level. This research is evaluating the relationship between antibiotic use, pathogen type, production practices and antimicrobial resistance across a large pig production system.

Genetic and microbial determinants of nitrogen fixation in a Sierra Mixe landrace of maize 

Year Awarded  2019

FFAR award amount   $927,581

Total award amount   $1,855,162

Location   Davis, CA

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   Benson Hill

Grantee Institution   University of California Davis

Plants need nitrogen to grow. Although the majority of earth’s atmosphere is made up of nitrogen, plants cannot access this form of nitrogen. We awarded a grant to the University of California, Davis to study a Mexican corn variety, Sierra Mixe, that obtains atmospheric nitrogen with the help of microbes, reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers.