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

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425 Grants found

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Nitrogen SAVings through soil hEalth (NSAVE): Leveraging regenerative agriculture to reduce nitrogen inputs, increase farmer profits & mitigate climate change

Year Awarded  2022

FFAR award amount   $998,784

Total award amount   $2,427,633

Location   Ames, IA

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   Growers Edge, Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Meridian Institute, Midwest Row Crop Collaborative and Practical Farmers of Iowa

Grantee Institution   Practical Farmers of Iowa

Nitrogen is critical to plant growth and yields. Soil health practices can increase nitrogen availability, but farmers cannot determine by how much, so they apply additional, synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, which is costly, contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and can negatively impact land and water ecosystems. This research is quantifying how adopting soil health practices can reduce the need for nitrogen inputs without sacrificing yield. Farmers need this scientifically sound economic information to make the best decisions for their land.

Fecal Microbiota Transplant to Reduce Post Weaning Diarrhea & Antibiotic Use

Year Awarded  2021

Total award amount   $311,354

Location   Lafayette, IN

Matching Funders   Purdue University and National Pork Board

Grantee Institution   Purdue University

This research is investigating using fecal microbiota, or stool, transplants to reduce post-weaning diarrhea and antibiotic use in swine. Post-weaning diarrhea is caused when bacteria invade the gut, which becomes weakened from the diet change, transportation and change in environment that occurs during weaning. Researchers are administering the fecal transplants though a feed amendment with freeze-dried fecal microbiota, a less labor-intensive method than traditional oral gavage and better suited for commercial settings. If effective, the results could be optimized for other animal species and be developed into proprietary feed additive-type technologies by the animal health industry.

Risk Factors for Lameness in Finishing Pigs

Year Awarded  2021

Total award amount   $268,493

Location   Philadelphia, PA

Matching Funders   University of Pennsylvania and PIC

Grantee Institution   University of Pennsylvania

Mycoplasma hyosynoviae (M. hyosynoviae) bacteria cause respiratory disease and lameness in pigs, contributing to economic loss and decreased animal welfare, and is a major driver of antibiotic use in swine production. Little is known about the incidence and causes of lameness in swine. This research is identifying factors that cause swine lameness to determine whether management factors like floor type, pen size and nutrition underlie common lameness problems. If lameness is caused by non-bacterial factors like M. hyosynoviae, alternative methods of prevention can be identified, reducing antibiotic usage.

Improving the Efficacy of Vaccination Against Mycoplasma Hyosynoviae by Identifying Optimal Application Times

Year Awarded  2021

Total award amount   $359,618

Location   St. Paul, MN

Matching Funders   Newport Laboratories, Tyson Foods, Pipestone Veterinary Services, Regents of the University of Minnesota and Boehringer Ingelheim

Grantee Institution   University of Minnesota

Mycoplasma hyosynoviae (M. hyosynoviae) bacteria cause respiratory disease and lameness in pigs, contributing to economic loss and decreased animal welfare, and is a major driver of antibiotic use in swine production. This research identifies the optimal time for vaccine application against M. hyosynoviae in swine, which will result in significant prevention of lameness development in grow-finish swine and translate into reduced use of antibiotics for disease control.

Antimicrobial Use Monitoring & Benchmarking in U.S. Feedyards

Year Awarded  2021

Total award amount   $400,022

Location   Manhattan, KS

Matching Funders   Kansas State University

Grantee Institution   Kansas State University

This research will develop a sustainable, practical system for individual beef producers to evaluate and report their antimicrobial usage in context of others across the beef feedlot industry. Results of this research can potentially impact how corporations and regulatory agencies formulate policies on antimicrobial use in beef cattle.

Pathogen-Host Interaction During the Development of Liver Abscesses; Local & Systemic Immune & Metabolic Responses During Fusobacterium Necrophorum Challenges

Year Awarded  2021

Total award amount   $195,140

Location   Lubbock TX

Matching Funders   Texas Tech University

Grantee Institution   Texas Tech University

The exact cause of liver abscesses is unknown. However, once they are formed, they are highly susceptible to the Fusobacterium necrophorum (F. necrophorum) bacterium, resulting in major economic loss to producers due to impaired cattle performance and lower carcass value. This research investigates how feedlot beef cattle immune systems react throughout the lifecycle of F. necrophorum. It is identifying potential pathways in which the bacteria subvert the hosts’ defenses during the development of liver abscess to lay the foundation for the formation of novel approaches, such as alternative drugs, that can potentially replace antimicrobials in liver abscess control and prevention strategies.

Defining the Contribution of Acidosis to the Liver Abscess Complex Using a Novel Challenge Model to Delineate Impacts of Diet Composition & Feeding Management on Liver Abscess Pathogenesis

Year Awarded  2021

Total award amount   $542,475

Location   Canyon, TX

Matching Funders   West Texas A&M University and Cactus Feeders

Grantee Institution   West Texas A&M University

The exact cause of liver abscesses is unknown. However, once they are formed, they are highly susceptible to the Fusobacterium necrophorum (F. necrophorum) bacterium, resulting in major economic loss to producers due to impaired cattle performance and lower carcass value. This research aims to develop a unique, repeatable method that induces liver abscesses in feedlot cattle to further investigate the relationship between acids in the rumen and liver abscesses. The project is also developing a scoring system to evaluate rumen health, updating the current liver scoring system to characterize liver abscess prevalence and developing a benchmark between these factors for future study.

Novel Strategies to Improve the Understanding of Liver Abscess Formation in Beef Cattle

Year Awarded  2021

Total award amount   $250,000

Location   Lubbock, TX

Matching Funders   Texas Tech University

Grantee Institution   Texas Tech University

The exact cause of liver abscesses is unknown. However, once they are formed, they are highly susceptible to the Fusobacterium necrophorum (F. necrophorum) bacterium, resulting in major economic loss to producers due to impaired cattle performance and lower carcass value. This research investigates the gastrointestinal location, concentration and movement of F. necrophorum and Salmonella enterica, as well as the other organisms that live in the intestines of feedlot cattle with liver abscesses. This first phase of Hales’ research will inform a methodology to reduce F. necrophorum through a direct-fed microbial.

Further Delineation of the Etiology and Pathogenesis of Liver Abscesses in Feedlot Cattle

Year Awarded  2021

Total award amount   $280,000

Location   Manhattan, KS

Matching Funders   Micronutrients Corporation , Cargill Incorporated and Phibro Animal Health Corporation

Grantee Institution   Kansas State University

The exact cause of liver abscesses is unknown. However, once they are formed, they are highly susceptible to the Fusobacterium necrophorum (F. necrophorum) bacterium, resulting in major economic loss to producers due to impaired cattle performance and lower carcass value. This research identifies specific bacterial species in feedlot cattle liver abscesses beyond the primary species, F. necrophorum, and determine their prevalence and involvement in abscess formation, especially in the under-studied hindgut segment of the gastrointestinal tract. This research could help identify new interventions to minimize the occurrence of liver abscesses in cattle. 

Development of a Non-Invasive Model to Induce Liver Abscess Formation in Beef Cattle

Year Awarded  2021

Total award amount   $180,922

Location   Lubbock, TX

Matching Funders   West Texas A&M University, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service and Kansas State University

Grantee Institution   Texas Tech University

The exact cause of liver abscesses is unknown. However, once they are formed, they are highly susceptible to the Fusobacterium necrophorum (F. necrophorum) bacterium, resulting in major economic loss to producers due to impaired cattle performance and lower carcass value. This research aims to develop a minimally invasive model that induces liver abscesses in feedlot cattle and improves researchers’ ability to study the development and mitigation of the abscesses, while reducing the time necessary to generate enough animals to study.