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

Refine Results
Challenge Areas & Initiatives
Consortia
Program
Scientific Workforce Programs
Location
    See more
Year
    See more
Order

17 Grants found

Increasing Motivation and Promoting Persistence in Farmer Conservation

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

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

Increasing Water Productivity, Soil Carbon, and Sustainability of Integrated Multi-Crop Systems Using Field-Scale Research

Dairy, Soil & Water Regeneration Grant Promotes Integrated Research to Support Dairy Industry Commitment to Sustainability

U.S. Dairy Net Zero Initiative: Improving Dairy On-Farm Sustainability through Improved Soil Health and Manure Management

❮ ❯

Strategic Fallowing for Sustainable Water and Thriving Agriculture

FFAR Awards $2 Million Grant to Improve Sustainability in Corn Production

Irrigation Innovation Consortium Funds Seven Research Projects

New Crops ATLASS (Analytics Telenetwork: for Landscape, Agronomic, and Sociocultural Scalability)

FFAR Grant Addressing Surface and Groundwater Pollution on Farms

FFAR Awards Grant to Reduce Water Waste in Crop Irrigation

Precision Irrigation Scheduling for Specialty Crops

Hide map

FFAR Awards Grant to Reduce Water Waste in Crop Irrigation

Year Awarded  2020

FFAR award amount   $650,000

Total award amount   $1,300,000

Location   Davis, CA

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   University of California, Davis

Sensors currently available to growers to measure plant water status are prohibitive. UC Davis researchers are developing a small sensor sensitive enough to measure as little as a one percent change in leaf thickness and volumetric water content at the same time. These two measurements provide growers with clear, consistent data to calculate the plant’s water status.

Precision Irrigation Scheduling for Specialty Crops

Year Awarded  2019

FFAR award amount   $500,000

Total award amount   $1,323,242

Location   Boulder, CO

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   The University of Arizona Yuma, Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture, University of California, Western Growers Association

Farmers growing specialty crops deal with a multitude of complexities such as lacking access to cost-effective irrigation guidance tools. Specialty crops are often over-irrigated which can jeopardize food security. GeoVisual Analytics researchers are improving irrigation guidance and grower adoption of precision irrigation technologies by analyzing data and field measurements.

Irrigation Innovation Consortium

Year Awarded  2018

FFAR award amount   $5,000,000

Total award amount   $10,000,000

Location   Fort Collins, CO

Matching Funders   Aqua Engineering Inc., Colorado Corn, Colorado State University, Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska (DWFI), Fresno State Center for Irrigation Technology, Irrigation Association (IA), Jain Irrigation, Kansas State Research and Extension - Kansas State University, Lindsay Corporation, Northern Water, Rubicon Water, Senninger Irrigation Inc., Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Valmont

The Irrigation Innovation Consortium is a joint initiative between private, public and university organizations to address water scarcity in the western US and worldwide.

Optimizing Water Use in Agriculture by Stacking Conservation Practices

Year Awarded  2018

FFAR award amount   $300,000

Total award amount   $600,001

Location   Logan, UT

Matching Funders   USU CAES, Central Utah Water Conservancy District, E&I Conservation District, Unitah Conservation District, North Cache Conservation District, Senninger Irrigation, Central Iron County Water Conservancy District, USU RGS

Concerns about water scarcity are mounting due to rapid urban growth, depleting groundwater supplies and water shortages from climate trends. Utah State University researchers are assessing the combined effectiveness of several methods of water optimization in agriculture, including more efficient water application and management and advanced crop genetics.

An Open Source Plant Chemogenomics Set

Year Awarded  2017

FFAR award amount   $1,000,000

Total award amount   $2,320,000

Location   Davis, CA

Matching Funders   UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food and Health, the Structural Genomics Consortium, AgBiome and Promega

Drought is a significant concern for farmers, especially rice growers. University of California, Davis researchers are studying genes responsible for drought tolerance in rice. The project is developing and implementing a screening strategy to identify new gene that effect root traits and drought tolerance in rice.

Improving Simulations of Water Dynamics and Crop Yield in the Corn Belt

Year Awarded  2017

FFAR award amount   $300,000

Total award amount   $600,000

Location   Ames, IA

Matching Funders   Iowa Crop Improvement Association

Currently, about 70 percent of crop yield losses in the Midwest are related to inefficient water use. Crop models help optimize water use and quality; however, today’s models do not account for groundwater. This important source of water can reduce the need for irrigation in dry years and enhance nitrogen and yield loss in wet years. Iowa State University researchers are improving simulation models that help farmers manage water use and predict impacts and design mitigation strategies that improve water quality, soil health and productivity.

Advances in Water Limited Irrigation Management

Year Awarded  2016

FFAR award amount   $300,000

Total award amount   $600,000

Location   Davis, CA

Matching Funders   Kansas State University and University of California, Davis

Projected increases in demands for food, feed and fiber will require more water. Semi-arid environments already face challenges in maintaining agricultural productivity under declining water supplies and climate change will exacerbate this challenge. University of California, Davis researchers are improving water productivity in agriculture by integrating data related to agricultural water use by several sources such as soils, weather and plant-based measurements.