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

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364 Grants found

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Increasing Motivation and Promoting Persistence in Farmer Conservation

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $120,238

Total award amount   $246,924

Location   Columbus, OH

Program   Achieving Conservation Through Targeted Information, Outreach and Networking (ACTION) Program

Matching Funders   Walton Family Foundation

Grantee Institution   The Ohio State University

Almost half of growers who do not implement conservation practices have positive attitudes about those practices. This project is testing the effects of interventions meant to close this gap. Researchers will develop targeted engagement that addresses farmers’ needs, including plans for overcoming challenges and maintaining motivation to continue conservation practices when financial incentives end. The team is developing interventions that target the gap between valuing conservation and implementing practices, assessing their effectiveness and creating guidance for scaling up the proposed interventions.

Novel Farmer-to-Farmer Learning Approaches to Cultivate a Culture of Conservation in the Mississippi River Basin

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $127,676

Total award amount   $262,200

Location   Sparta, WI

Program   Achieving Conservation Through Targeted Information, Outreach and Networking (ACTION) Program

Matching Funders   Walton Family Foundation

Grantee Institution   University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension

This project is testing two engagement approaches to increase farmer willingness to adopt conservation practices. These approaches facilitate peer learning among farmers. The first approach is a series of virtual meetups for farmers to foster peer-to-peer conversation about implementing conservation practices. The second approach is a mini-grant program that will support pairs of farmers and farm advisors to implement edge-of-field practices, learn how to become opinion leaders and develop multimedia to encourage other farmers to adopt conservation practices.

Equipping Conservation Professionals and Farmers with Tools to Deliver Edge of Field Practices

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $226,636

Total award amount   $480,426

Location   Ames, IA

Program   Achieving Conservation Through Targeted Information, Outreach and Networking (ACTION) Program

Matching Funders   Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition, Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership, Walton Family Foundation

Grantee Institution   Iowa State University

The cost and complexity of technical assistance is a major barrier to large scale adoption of edge-of-field conservation practices. This project is equipping professionals and farmers to deliver edge-of-field practices at scale in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. Researchers are studying models being used to implement these practices and are compiling intervention and engagement strategies that can be tailored to local conditions and target audiences. The project is using these studies to produce data-driven decision support tools that will allow farmers to scale up practices.

Integrating genomics, milk spectrometry & microbial manipulations to mitigate enteric methane emissions from dairy cattle

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $1,556,634

Total award amount   $3,301,496

Location   Madison, WI

Matching Funders   Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, ADM, the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB), Elanco, Genus plc, JBS USA, the National Dairy Herd Information Association, Nestlé and the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC)

Grantee Institution   University of Wisconsin–Madison

Cows and other ruminant animals produce enteric methane as part of their natural digestive process. This methane is the single largest source of direct greenhouse gases in the beef and dairy sectors. This research is combining interventions that address selective breeding, data on milk composition, and rumen microbes to gain the necessary knowledge to inform the selective breeding of U.S. dairy cattle with lower emissions.

Hydrogen production and hydrogen utilization in the rumen of beef & dairy cattle: Key rumen microbiome measurements to understand mechanisms controlling methanogenesis & mitigating enteric methane emissions

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $1,066,820

Total award amount   $3,221,254

Location   Champaign, IL

Matching Funders   Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, ADM, the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB), Elanco, Genus plc, JBS USA, the National Dairy Herd Information Association, Nestlé, the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC) and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Grantee Institution   University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Cows and other ruminant animals produce enteric methane as part of their natural digestive process. Microorganisms in the rumen use hydrogen and carbon dioxide to produce large volumes of methane. This methane is the single largest source of direct greenhouse gases in the beef and dairy sectors. This project studies how diets and different additives affect hydrogen production and utilization in the rumen of both beef and dairy cattle and how these changes in hydrogen dynamics affect the amount of enteric methane produced.

Using sensors & psychological profile to increase compliance of wean to market barn biosecurity

Year Awarded  2023

Total award amount   $125,930

Location   St-Hyacinthe, QC

Program   Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program

Matching Funders   Swine Health Information Center & Pork Checkoff

Grantee Institution   University of Montreal

One of the biggest farm biosecurity challenges is the enforcement of safe and hygienic behaviors from barn workers and visitors. To better understand biosecurity compliance, this research is using social and behavioral sciences to adapt interventions and establish improved biosecurity behaviors.

Development of an effective & practical biosecurity entrance system

Year Awarded  2023

Total award amount   $179,933

Location   Columbia, MO

Program   Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program

Matching Funders   Swine Health Information Center & Pork Checkoff

Grantee Institution   University of Missouri

A common practice to minimize the introduction of disease in swine barns is for everyone entering a swine facility to use a shower-in and shower-out system. However, it is a challenge to enforce the use of these systems across all farm workers and personnel. This research is evaluating the effectiveness of an innovative, easy-to-use biosecurity-effective entry system for commercial pig farms to replace the laborious shower-in and shower-out system to provide a simplified, effective alternative for barn entry and exit.

Self-vaccinating pigs to save labor, improve efficacy & enhance biosecurity: Mhp, IAV, Ileitis & Erysipelas evaluations

Year Awarded  2023

Total award amount   $119,018

Location   Lubbock, TX

Program   Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program

Matching Funders   Swine Health Information Center & Pork Checkoff

Grantee Institution   Texas Tech University

Pigs commonly receive vaccines by intramuscular injection, which requires significant skilled labor that is in short supply and costly to producers. This research is developing and testing the efficacy of an automated, self-administering, needle-free vaccination system for four common pathogens, which has the potential to offer producers a faster, less labor intensive and more effective way to vaccinate swine and improve overall barn biosecurity.

Comparison of a rail-mounted automated power washer to a commercial manual power washing crew in terms of cleanliness, manpower & water usage efficiency

Year Awarded  2023

Total award amount   $61,100

Location   Pipestone, MN

Program   Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program

Matching Funders   Swine Health Information Center & Pork Checkoff

Grantee Institution   Pipestone

Barn washing is a critical biosecurity measure. However, the traditional use of commercial power washing crews who move their washing equipment from one farm to another can transfer pathogens from barn to barn, presenting a biosecurity risk. To establish improved barn washing protocols that could be managed onsite by producers, this research is testing a robotic washing system that reduces the labor needed from outsourced washing crews and, thereby, the risk of disease transmission.

Determining the economical & epidemiological benefit of cleaning & disinfecting market haul trailers within the U.S. swine industry

Year Awarded  2023

Total award amount   $28,875

Location   Mahomet, IL

Program   Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program

Matching Funders   Swine Health Information Center & Pork Checkoff

Grantee Institution   Lowe Consulting, Ltd.

Trailers hauling pigs to market have the potential to transmit diseases. Yet, transportation vehicles are not always cleaned and disinfected to prevent contamination, thereby threatening wean-to-market biosecurity. This study is using modeling to determine the minimum number of transport vehicles that need to be decontaminated to stop specific pathogens from spreading.