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

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64 Grants found

Uniting Urban Agriculture Operations to Increase Food Security

Validation of Efficacy of a Protective DIVA-Compatible Prototype African Swine Fever Virus Vaccine

A new methods of managing human waste for improved soil health, carbon sequestration, contaminant removal, and social acceptability

FFAR Grant Promotes Sorghum Health Benefits

Development of new alphaamylase immunoassays to preserve wheat grain value and accelerate breeding for climate resilience

Urban farming at the Water, Food, Energy Nexus: soil health practices with agrivoltaic impacts on crops, soils, carbon, and water

UC Davis Receives FFAR Grant to Help Improve Vineyard Soil Health

FFAR Awards Grant to Reduce Water Waste in Crop Irrigation

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

Increasing Dietary Fiber in Wheat Crop

Protecting Soil Health & Food Safety in Almond Orchards

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Expanding development of a predictive model to quantify the risk reduction associated with specific soil health practices for use by private & public lenders & insurers to incentivize the transition to resilient, climate-smart agriculture

Investigating Natural Nitro-Compounds as a Viable Strategy to Reduce Enteric Methane Emission from Ruminants

Kansas State University Provides Data on Nitrogen Management Practices in the Great Plains

FFAR Grant Improves Soil Health Through Phosphorus Management

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

FFAR Research Tackles Peanut Allergy

Strategic Fallowing for Sustainable Water and Thriving Agriculture

High dimensional phenomics and automation to transform cost and timeframe of early stage domestication of wild plants

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

FFAR Grant Addresses Food Waste Reduction Challenges

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Breeding drought & heat tolerant wheat

Enhancing Human Health and Nutrition from Soil to Society Using Quinoa as a Model Crop Species

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

FFAR Awards Cornell University a Grant to Treat Udder Infection in Dairy Cattle

Scalable breeding for plant growth to address the challenges of climate change

FFAR Grant Helps Heat-Stressed Dairy Cows Weather Increasing Temperatures

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Grant Supports Production of Sustainable, Cost-Effective Feed Supplements

FFAR Grant to Develop Vaccine for Tilapia Lake Virus

FFAR & Rodale Institute Enhance Soil Health to Increase Crop Nutrients

Rethinking seafood by-product: A path to provide sustainable nutrition and improve resource utilization

Genome Editing Wheat for Durable & Sustainable Disease Resistance

Accelerated Development of Crops of the Future

FFAR Grant Examines Carbon Farming Effect on Soil Health

FFAR Grant Addressing Surface and Groundwater Pollution on Farms

FFAR and NYSTAR Grant Helps RIT Examine Degradable Mulching Films

Growing Policy From The Ground Up: Building, Deploying, and Testing Networks to Strengthen Urban Food Systems

Precision Irrigation Scheduling for Specialty Crops

FFAR Grant Provides Technical Training to Enhance Soil Health

Improving Dairy Feed Efficiency, Sustainability and Profitability by Impacting Farmer’s Breeding and Culling Decisions

An Open Source Framework and Community for Sharing Data and Algorithms

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Genome Editing Wheat for Durable & Sustainable Disease Resistance

Year Awarded  2020

FFAR award amount   $900,000

Total award amount   $3,272,723

Location   Berkeley, CA

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   2Blades Foundation, Innovative Genomics Institute

To control plant epidemics by breeding plants for disease resistance, scientists use traditional crop breeding to introduce, or stack, multiple resistance genes – though this is a time-consuming approach and pathogens evolve to overcome resistance.  University of California, Berkeley researchers are using gene editing technology to stack resistance genes in the wheat crops that specifically recognize the pathogen’s proteins. By recognizing the pathogen’s proteins, the plant can fight the pathogen, even if the pathogen mutates.

Accelerated Development of Crops of the Future

Year Awarded  2020

FFAR award amount   $748,549

Total award amount   $1,497,098

Location   Ames, IA

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   Iowa State University, KWS SAAT SE & Co, Beck’s Superior Hybrids, BASF, SAATEN-UNION BIOTEC and RAGT

On average, it takes farmers ten years to produce a new crop. With an increasing global population, there is high demand for more crops sooner. Iowa State University researchers are developing breeding methods that accelerate plant breeding for multiple crop species. These breeding techniques deliver improved crop varieties – with greater yields – into the hands of farmers sooner.

FFAR Grant Quantifies Organic Carbon to Improve Agricultural Productivity

Year Awarded  2020

FFAR award amount   $1,000,000

Total award amount   $2,070,000

Location   Urbana-Champaign, IL

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   University of Illinois, the University of Minnesota and Ag Air Imaging, LLC

While also providing environmental benefits, carbon retention in the soil is critical for effective water retention, nutrient absorption and root development. The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) awarded a $1 million grant to the University of Illinois and the University of Minnesota to develop an integrated technique to monitor soil organic carbon, a measurable component of soil organic matter, in the US Corn Belt.

FFAR Grant Examines Carbon Farming Effect on Soil Health

Year Awarded  2020

FFAR award amount   $616,178

Total award amount   $1,281,584

Location   Petaluma, CA

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   Mad Agriculture and Colorado State University

Through sustainable farming techniques, carbon can be stored long term in the soil, a process referred to as carbon sequestration. Employing carbon farm practices can further improve soil health and environmental health by increasing carbon sequestration. Knowledge gaps about commonly recommended management practices make it difficult to quantify how the carbon farm process affects carbon levels. Providing additional information about this process will help resource managers and policymakers prioritize programs and funding.

FFAR Grant Addressing Surface and Groundwater Pollution on Farms

Year Awarded  2020

FFAR award amount   $316,000

Total award amount   $632,231

Location   Avondale, AZ

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   Stroud Center and the Science Technology and Research Institute of Delaware (STRIDE)

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of chemical compounds used in hundreds of applications. Due to their high thermal stability, resistance to chemical degradation and related waste disposal, PFAS is an environmental concern. Stroud Center researchers, in collaboration with STRIDE Center for PFAS Solutions, are examining the occurrence and migration of biosolid-derived PFAS in soil and water on agricultural fields.

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.

Enhancing Human Health and Nutrition from Soil to Society Using Quinoa as a Model Crop Species

Year Awarded  2020

FFAR award amount   $1,000,000

Total award amount   $2,044,872

Location   Pullman, WA

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   Lundberg Family Farms, Washington State University

Despite its popularity and nutritional content, quinoa is still underutilized because it is imported, even though nutritious, high-quality varieties can grow and thrive in this country. Washington State University researchers are growing new quinoa varieties and analyzing them for amino acid and micronutrient concentrations. The researchers are testing soil and nutrient management practices that enhance the crops’ nutritional values while also improving yield. Thousands of quinoa varieties are being evaluated in diverse soil types and unique environments.

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

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.

FFAR and NYSTAR Grant Helps RIT Examine Degradable Mulching Films

Year Awarded  2019

FFAR award amount   $779,982

Total award amount   $1,560,000

Location   Rochester, NY

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR)

RIT researchers are developing an alternative to plastic mulch that decomposes faster and can be more easily disposed of on farms. The resulting mulch has the potential to cut costs for farmers while drastically reducing the amount of waste they produce. It could also reduce pesticide use, conserve water and increase crop yield and quality.

Growing Policy From The Ground Up: Building, Deploying, and Testing Networks to Strengthen Urban Food Systems

Year Awarded  2019

FFAR award amount   $999,680

Total award amount   $2,110,858

Location   Amherst, NY

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   Appetite For Change, John Hopkins University, Massachusetts Avenue Project, University at Buffalo, University of Minnesota, Urban Fruits & Veggies LLC

Urban food systems promote community health by providing affordable and healthy food to low-income communities, yet there are limited resources for local governments that support urban food systems. SUNY researchers on behalf of the University at Buffalo are testing inclusive organizing models that advance policies supporting urban agriculture.