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

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426 Grants found

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Integrating On-farm Solar Arrays to Enhance Groundwater Resources, Produce Energy & Diversify Farm Income

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $881,526

Total award amount   $1,763,053

Location   Lawrence, KS

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc., Kansas State University, Michigan State University, Wheatland Electric Cooperative, Inc.

The High Plains Aquifer provides irrigation to support a $3.5 billion agricultural economy across eight states, but due to decades of groundwater extraction, water levels have fallen dangerously low across much of the aquifer. Researchers at the University of Kansas are studying the integration of solar panel arrays outfitted with rain collection gutters on farmland to recharge groundwater and provide marketable electricity to growers.

Evaluation of the Efficacy, Agronomic Fit & Environmental Fate of Biopesticides for Management of Economically Important Diseases & Arthropod Pests of Hemp

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $210,000

Total award amount   $420,000

Location   Geneva, NY

Matching Funders   BioWorks

Because federal laws restricted hemp cultivation and research until recently, commercial hemp production lacks best practices, including effectively and safely managing pests and diseases. Academic and industry partners are collaborating to identify biopesticides – biologically derived crop protection products – that can control hemp’s major pest and disease threats. Researchers are studying the effectiveness of biopesticides, their compatibility with other crop protection products and the ability of hemp plants to tolerate biopesticide applications.

A holistic approach to improving keel bone health of breeders and commercial layer hens

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $1,499,686

Total award amount   $2,999,372

Location   Davis, CA

Program   Layer Hen Keel Bone Health Program

Matching Funders   Hy-Line International; Open Philanthropy

Grantee Institution   University of California Davis

This research is bringing an interdisciplinary approach to the complex, multi-faceted challenge of keel bone damage. The research team is aiming to decrease the occurrence of keel bone damage by examining the birds’ housing environments and assessing the key relation and role of genetics. The researchers are identifying genetic markers associated with keel bone damage in breeding flocks raised under different housing environments and improving genetic selection to promote resistance to keel bone fractures. They are also evaluating the effects of housing design interventions on the development, type and prevalence of keel bone damage. Finally, the researchers are exploring alternative housing designs and conducting economic analyses to determine the costs and gains from the proposed adjustments to breeding and housing designs.

Using the power of functional genomics and genetics to reduce keel bone damage

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $1,489,326

Total award amount   $3,991,105

Location   Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Program   Layer Hen Keel Bone Health Program

Matching Funders   Hy-Line International; Lohmann Breeders GmbH; Open Philanthropy; Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Universidad de Granada; University of Alberta

Grantee Institution   University of Edinburgh

The research consortium is using genetic selection to address keel damage. The team is using x-ray images and machine learning to refine and validate the measurements of bone quality and keel damage in living hens to inform the selection of hens to reduce keel bone damage. This work is also examining if breeding programs for improved keel health need to vary depending upon poultry housing design. The consortium’s work also is exploring the relationship of age at puberty on bone strength by manipulating diet and light to delay puberty and measuring the resulting effects on bone quality. Finally, they are determining whether a diet that produces lower homocysteine, an amino acid, increases collagen strength and improves keel quality.

Developing Tomato Lines Resistant to Broomrape, a Critical World-wide Pest

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $232,728

Total award amount   $465,456

Location   Davis, CA

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   University of California, Davis

Grantee Institution   University of California, Davis

Branched broomrape is a parasitic weed threatening the United States’ supply of processing tomatoes. The weed can completely decimate tomato crops, creating significant economic losses for growers. Current processing tomato varieties are not resistant to the weed. University of California, Davis researchers are developing a tomato variety with branched broomrape resistance.

FFAR Fellows Program 2023 Cohort

Year Awarded  2023

Location   Raleigh, NC

Matching Funders   North Carolina State University

A unique three-year fellowship that prepares up to 48 graduate students to be the next generation of food and agriculture scientists by using an interdisciplinary approach to career readiness. Fellows work with university and industry representatives, as well as their peers, to conduct urgent research and engage in professional development.

Development of Novel Methanogenesis Inhibitors in Ruminants

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $324,519

Total award amount   $758,776

Location   State College, PA

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   Penn State

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. Addressing enteric methane emissions is critical to slowing the effects of climate change while also helping the dairy and beef sectors meet their sustainability goals. This project aims to develop feed additive options that will deliver the greatest enteric methane mitigation potential that is practical for producers.

Grant Improves Stress Tolerance in Carrots

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $500,000

Total award amount   $1,000,000

Location   Davis, CA

Matching Funders   Bayer, Bejo Zaden, Enza Zaden, Rijk Zwaan, Takii Seed Vilmorin Mikado

Grantee Institution   University of California, Davis

Carrot growers face a variety of both climate and biological threats, including water access and diseases such as Alternaria leaf blight (Alternaria), a disease that can reduce yield by 40-60%. Some cultivated carrots are partially resistant to Alternaria but still require frequent fungicide applications to fully protect crops from this disease. University of California, Davis researchers are tapping into the genetic diversity of wild carrots to breed Alternaria resistance and the ability to grow in water-deficient conditions into cultivated carrots.

FFAR Grant to Improve Sorghum & Strengthen Nutritional Security

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $809,879

Total award amount   $1,619,758

Location   Entebbe, Uganda

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO)

Grantee Institution   National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO)

Developing sorghum varieties with high iron and zinc in the grain for human consumption and reduced levels of hydrogen cyanide, an anti-nutrient, to increase the bioavailability of nutritious foods in the region.

Kirchner Food Fellowship HBCU 2023-2024 Cohort

Year Awarded  2023

Location   Jacksonville, FL & Washington, D.C.

Matching Funders   Kirchner Group, the Burroughs-Wellcome Fund and individual donors.

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.