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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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

Grantee Institution   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.

FFAR and Alliance for Science Expand Gene Editing Communications

Year Awarded  2021

FFAR award amount   $189,794

Total award amount   $760,271

Location   Ithaca, NY

Matching Funders   Cornell Alliance for Science

Grantee Institution   Cornell University

FFAR invests in a range of research technologies, including projects that use biotechnology and gene editing to make agriculture more sustainable, protect biodiversity and ensure that the world has sufficient food to feed a growing population. Through this award, the Alliance for Science, a global communications initiative, is amplifying FFAR-funded research and programs.

CRISPR-Combo Allows Gene Editing and Culture Regeneration

Year Awarded  2021

FFAR award amount   $664,000

Total award amount   $739,000

Location   College Park, MD

Program   Accelerated Crop Breeding

Matching Funders   BASF

Grantee Institution   University of Maryland

While gene editing technology has improved crop breeding and adaptation, the process of regrowing a plant from edited cells is costly, lengthy and unpredictable. Many popular crops are difficult to regenerate with existing methods. Researchers at the University of Maryland are developing a CRISPR-Combo system that will use CRISPR gene editing technology to kick-start the regeneration process.

University of Tennessee Receives FFAR Grant to Help Address Food Waste Challenges

Year Awarded  2021

FFAR award amount   $308,171

Total award amount   $616,378

Location   Knoxville, TN

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   Metro Nashville, Resource Capture, UT and Urban Green Lab

Grantee Institution   University of Tennessee

UT researchers are developing a Decision Support System (DSS), which will enable partners, city planners and community leaders to determine best options for identifying and scaling food waste redirection, composting and use of compost using a model that can be easily applied to other cities.

Scaling Crops for Sustainable Water Management: Building Supply Chains

Summer crops such as wheat, rice, and corn can be profitable for farmers, but post-harvest farmland is unproductive for several months during the off-season. Fallow land can accumulate a variety of water-related challenges, including soil nutrient loss and erosion and precipitation runoff. However, continuous living cover crops can prevent these challenges and maintain land in the off-seasons. The University of Minnesota is developing models for sustainable supply chains that create markets for crops farmers can grow between seasons.

FFAR Grant Addresses Food Waste Reduction Challenges

Year Awarded  2021

FFAR award amount   $308,171

Total award amount   $616,378

Location   Knoxville, TN

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   Metro Nashville, Resource Capture, University of Tennessee, and Urban Green Lab

Grantee Institution   University of Tennessee

Nearly one-third of landfill waste consists of food waste matter that could be redirected to alternative waste reduction methods, such as composting. However, addressing food waste reduction presents communities, especially cities, with significant challenges related to policy, technology and cost-effectiveness. The University of Tennessee (UT) will develop and execute a food waste Decision Support System (DSS), enabling city planners to easily evaluate innovative waste reduction solutions and technologies.

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

Grantee Institution   Purdue University

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

Grantee Institution   North Dakota State University

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.

Fast Tracking Climate Solutions from Global Germplasm Banks

Year Awarded  2021

FFAR award amount   $5,000,000

Total award amount   $11,500,000

Location   Texcoco, Mexico

Matching Funders   Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Grantee Institution   CGIAR

The most dangerous impact of climate change is the disruption of global agriculture and food systems through disasters such as drought, heat and flooding. These disruptions, including decreased agricultural production and reduced harvests, are hardest on the approximately half a billion smallholder farmers living on less than two dollars a day. This initiative, led by CGIAR, advances transformative approaches to expand the use of genetic diversity from germplasm banks. The research ultimately aims to develop new climate-smart crop varieties for millions of smallholder farmers worldwide.

Kirchner Food Fellowship Inaugural HBCU Cohort (2021-22)

Year Awarded  2021

FFAR award amount   $75,000

Total award amount   $273,000

Location   Jacksonville, FL & Washington, D.C.

Matching Funders   The Kirchner Impact Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and Burroughs-Wellcome Fund

The Kirchner Fellowship HBCU cohort is part of a $1 million five-year collaboration between the Kirchner Impact Foundation and the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research to increase diversity within the venture capital industry by training HBCU students to become agriculture technology venture capitalists. Kirchner HBCU fellows invest capital in early-stage food and agriculture companies applying ground-breaking technologies to provide sustainable solutions to address global food challenges.