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

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499 Grants found

Outcome-Based Identification of Best Agronomic Practices to Reduce N Footprint in Agroecosystems

Accelerating Coffee Breeding Through Developing Tools to Screen for Critical Disease & Pest Resistance 

International Lettuce Genomics Consortium 4: Pre-competitive Foundational Research for Lettuce Breeding

Reducing the Carbon Footprint of U.S. Beef Cattle Production – a Texas Pilot Program

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Accelerating Development of Sustainable, Biological Solutions for Targeted Navel Orangeworm Pest Management 

Year Awarded  2025

FFAR award amount   $2,495,881

Total award amount   $4,993,091

Location   Abingdon, UK

Matching Funders   Almond Board of California

Grantee Institution   Flyttr™

California’s almond and pistachio orchards face major losses from the navel orangeworm, the state’s most destructive tree nut pest, which costs growers more than $800 million annually. This research is developing a biological tool that reduces the pest’s threat. The project aims to cut crop loss and lower reliance on chemical insecticides for nut growers in California and other states and ensure food safety for consumers.

Transforming Dairy Cattle Lameness Management through a Combination of Artificial Intelligence-Powered Video Analytics & Genomic, Epidemiological & Extension Approaches 

Year Awarded  2025

FFAR award amount   $1,000,000

Total award amount   $2,000,000

Location   St. Paul, MN

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   CattleEye LTD, CATTLEytics, the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding and Kinder Ground

Grantee Institution   University of Minnesota

Researchers are combining advanced data analysis of farm records, hoof health history and genetic information with autonomous cameras to better understand the impact, causes and detection of lameness in dairy cows to help farms breed cows less prone to it. Lameness caused by hoof lesions remains one of the most costly and persistent animal welfare issues on U.S dairy farms, affecting cow health and productivity and farm profitability.

Grassland Futures: Transboundary and Transdisciplinary Insights for Mitigating Grassland Conversion 

Year Awarded  2025

FFAR award amount   $1,554,575

Total award amount   $3,109,245

Location   Arlington, VA

Matching Funders   Nature United, The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, University of Wyoming, Cornell University, The Governors University of Alberta

Grantee Institution   The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy and collaborators are conducting research to help keep grasslands intact across the U.S. and Canadian Great Plains. Researchers are using the funding to develop practical solutions that help ranchers maintain thriving, working grasslands while slowing conversion to other uses.

Ten H5N1 Risk to Swine Research Awards 

Year Awarded  2025

Total award amount   $2,100,000

Location   Manhattan, KS

Program   H5N1 Risk to Swine Research Program

Grantee Institution   Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) and Pork Checkoff

The U.S. pork industry has made prevention and preparedness for H5N1 influenza a top priority due to the virus' recent expansion into novel species, including dairy cattle and a backyard pig. These awards address this priority by enhancing prevention, preparedness, mitigation and response capabilities for H5N1 influenza. Specifically, the projects focus on transmission within and across species, vaccine development and surveillance. A full list of research projects is available on the SHIC website.

Exploring the Benefits of Integrating the Biological Nitrification Inhibition (BNI) Trait into Winter Wheat to Enhance Nitrogen Use Efficiency: Establishing BNI in Winter Wheat & Developing a Comprehensive Nitrogen Assessment Platform for Global Potential

Year Awarded  2025

FFAR award amount   $1,932,367

Total award amount   $14,492,754

Location   Texcoco, Mexico

Matching Funders   Novo Nordisk Foundation

Grantee Institution   CIMMYT

The biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) trait has the potential to improve nitrogen use efficiency and soil health by stabilizing nitrogen reserves within the root zone of crops. This project seeks to introduce the BNI trait into winter wheat using next generation breeding technologies that reduce generation time, conserve resources and increase the number of generations per year. The goal is to deliver winter wheat with improved nitrogen use efficiency, high yield and adaptability. In addition, the researchers are developing a comprehensive platform to better measure and assess nitrogen cycling, helping to determine the BNI trait’s contribution to improving nitrogen use efficiency in wheat production systems.

Kernza® Supply Chain from Farm to Fork: Building Systems to Trace the Ecological, Nutritional and Community Benefits of Kernza® Production in Fields and Food Products 

Year Awarded  2025

FFAR award amount   $986,462

Total award amount   $2,003,394

Location   Moundridge, KS

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   Wichita State University, 40 Century Grain, Inc., Merge Impact, NETZRO, Saltine Food, Colorado Malting Co, Denver Distillery LLC, Easy Modular Manufacturing, Sustain-A-Grain, Inc., Service Press, Artisan Naan Bakery, Boot Hill Distillery, LLC, Farmer Direct Foods, Sandhills Brewing, Midland Railroad Hotel, The FARM and The Odd Fellows, Smoky Valley Distillery, Prairy, The Land Institute, Perennial Agriculture Project, Perennial Spirits.

Grantee Institution   Sustain-A-Grain

Food and beverage companies have expressed interest in Kernza, which became commercially available in 2016; however, demand for Kernza supply chain has remained small over the last decade and has yet to reach the scale needed for broader adoption. Sustain-A-Grain researchers are developing a traceable supply chain framework for Kernza to aid grain producers and food companies.

FFAR Research Aims to Protect Dairy Cattle Against H5N1 

Year Awarded  2025

FFAR award amount   $150,000

Total award amount   $301,562

Location   West Lafayette, IN

Program   Rapid Outcomes from Agricultural Research

Matching Funders   Purdue University

Grantee Institution   Purdue University

H5N1 in dairy cattle decreases milk production and milk quality, causing significant economic losses for farmers. The recent detection of H5N1 in humans, dairy cows and non-traditional host birds indicates that this virus poses new threats to other non-avian species. Purdue University researchers are using knowledge gained from prior work on influenza A viruses and a bovine adenoviral vaccine platform to develop a universal influenza vaccine for cows that is expected to be effective against further viral mutations.

Advancing Soil Carbon Solutions through an Ecosystem Modeling and Data Consortium

Year Awarded  2025

FFAR award amount   $1,500,000

Total award amount   $3,000,000

Location   Fort Collins, CO

Matching Funders   Colorado State University, Soil Carbon Solutions Center

Grantee Institution   Colorado State University 

Colorado State University’s Ecosystem Modeling and Data Consortium is building an open, community-driven platform to advance ecosystem models and critical soil and greenhouse gas data, improving access, transparency and usability across the sector. The consortium brings together researchers, nonprofits, industry, and policy stakeholders to support rigorous soil carbon and greenhouse gas accounting while reducing barriers to data and model adoption. 

FFAR Vet Fellows Seventh Cohort 

Year Awarded  2025

Total award amount   $16,000 per student

Location   Washington, D.C.

Matching Funders   American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC)

The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) announced the 15 recipients of the 2025 Veterinary Student Research Fellowships (Vet Fellows) in partnership with the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC). This fellowship creates opportunities for veterinary students to pursue research on global food security and sustainable animal production.

Unearthing Maize Genes for Enhanced Nitrogen Use Efficiency & AMF Synergy 

Year Awarded  2025

FFAR award amount   $999,996

Total award amount   $2,196,825

Location   St. Louis, MO

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Pennsylvania State University, Valent BioSciences LLC

Grantee Institution   Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

Industrial farming relies on large applications of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. However, a significant portion of fertilizer is not used by the plants, which costs producers money and can affect soil and water health. Donald Danforth Plant Science Center researchers are exploring the impacts of deep rooted corn, and the symbiotic relationship between corn and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, both of which can increase the reach of corn roots.