Grants Archive

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

Protecting Florida Corn from Tar Spot Outbreak

Year Awarded 2023

FFAR award amount $120,509

Total award amount $241,537

Location Gainesville, FL

Matching Funders University of Florida

Tar spot is a rapidly spreading fungal disease caused primarily by Phyllachora maydis, a plant pathogen that infects corn and damages leaves. Tar spot reduces corn grain yield and overall crop quality and could become a severe epidemic on sweet corn. University of Florida researchers are identifying management strategies by developing an effective chemical control program and analyzing sweet corn hybrids that are resistant to tar spot. The research team is examining the genetic diversity of tar spot samples from Florida and comparing to those from the Midwest.

Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program Round One Projects

Year Awarded 2023

Location Ames, IA

Program Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program

Matching Funders Swine Health Information Center and the Pork Checkoff

Ten research projects have been funded as part of Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program. Each project is designed to achieve the objectives of cost-effective, innovative solutions for a significant biosecurity gap in U.S. swine production. Institutions receiving awards in this first round of funding are Iowa State University, Carthage Veterinary Service, North Carolina State University, the University of Minnesota, and Swine Vet Center.

FFAR & WUR Launch Nature-Based Future Challenge

Year Awarded 2023

FFAR award amount $255,001

Total award amount $689,190

Location Washington, D.C.

Matching Funders Wageningen University & Research (WUR)and the University Fund Wageningen

The Nature-based Future Student Challenges program trains students to develop nature-based solutions as a way to mitigate climate change effects in delta regions.

A Deeper Dive: Linking Below-Ground Soil & Water Quality with Above-Ground Productivity in Organic Systems to Enhance Economic Viability & Ecosystem Resiliency

Year Awarded 2023

Total award amount $195,124

Location Ames, IA

Matching Funders The Organic Center

Grantee Institution Iowa State University

Dr. Kathleen Delate is quantifying the optimal combinations of soil, greenhouse gas emissions and economic modeling for ecosystem health. She is comparing agricultural system management, manure management and alternative cropping systems. Delate plans to share her results with the farming community to encourage farmer participation in data collection and practice adoption. She is also training multi-cultural farmers on the identified practices to spur adoption of her research recommendations.

Investigating the re-integration of organic food crops & animal production on above & belowground diversity, soil health, farm resilience & food safety.

Year Awarded 2023

Total award amount $199,256

Location West Lafayette, IN

Matching Funders The Organic Center

Grantee Institution Purdue University

Dr. Moriah Bilenky is investigating how integrated cropping systems on organic fields can reduce input costs and enhance biodiversity above and below ground. Specifically, Bilenky and her team are investigating the impacts of adding small ruminants to an integrated cropping system on soil health, microbiome health and presence of food pathogens on vegetable farms. The researchers aim to identify integrated cropping system best practices and plan to disseminate educational materials to increase adoption of these practices.

Rodale Institution

Year Awarded 2023

Total award amount $96,694

Location Kutztown, PA

Matching Funders The Organic Center

Grantee Institution Rodale Institution

This Prize allows the Rodale Institute to expand its online educational portal to further reach and train farmers and agricultural professionals across the U.S. Specifically, the Institute is creating greater access to its online course “Transition to Certified Organic Agriculture” by translating it into Spanish, creating a scholarship program to provide free access to their online courses and expanding the types of courses offered.

Oregon Tilth

Year Awarded 2023

Total award amount $63,173

Location Corvallis, OR

Matching Funders The Organic Center

Grantee Institution Oregon Tilth

This 2023 Prize allows Oregon Tilth to train additional farmers and agriculture professionals in organic certification, organic regulations, production practices and profitability tools. The Prize also funds convenings for organic certifiers that explore ways to streamline linkages between the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service support and the organic certification process. Lastly, the Prize supports the Know Your Cost to Grow program, an online curriculum and cost calculation app developed to help producers develop and utilize cost information.

Kalona Regenerative Network Producer Education Training Program

Year Awarded 2023

Total award amount $77,777

Location Kalona, IA

Matching Funders The Organic Center

Grantee Institution Kalona Regenerative Network

Kalona Regenerative Network is educating farmers to use regenerative and organic farming methods to restore ecosystem health, grow more nutrient dense food and create profitable farms. With this Prize, KRN is offering organic certification in-house and implementing a pay-what-you-can and scholarship model for their Producer Education Program. The Prize also supports accessible education and guidance to help producers and consumers drive change within the U.S. food system.

New Innovator in Food & Agriculture Research Award

Year Awarded 2023

FFAR award amount Applicants are eligible for grants up to $150,000 per year for a maximum of three years

Location Washington, D.C.

The New Innovator Award supports early-career scientists pursuing research that sustainably enhances agricultural production or improves health through food. By investing in scientists and faculty members at the onset of their careers, this award allows them to pursue research without the pressures of securing additional funding.

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

Year Awarded 2022

Location Brattelboro, VT

Program Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders Cornell University, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, Rich Earth Institute, University of Michigan

Grantee Institution Rich Earth Institute

Synthetic fertilizers accelerate crop growth and are commonly used in agriculture; however, these products contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, wastewater is also a source of pollution, and only a fraction of the vast quantity of nutrients flowing through modern wastewater treatment systems is captured for beneficial reuse. A significant portion of regional fertilizer needs could be met by reclaiming the nutrients present in wastewater. The Rich Earth Institute is producing biochar from wastewater material to potentially be used to develop safe, renewable fertilizers that enhance agricultural productivity, support soil health, reduce nutrient pollution and mitigate climate change through soil carbon sequestration.

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

398 Grants found

FFAR Grant Addresses Emerging Pine Needle Diseases

FFAR Grant Develops Mitigation Tactics for Cocoa Frosty Pod Rot

A multiplexed chemical sensor system to automate non-invasive, in-ovo sex determination for the poultry industry

UC Davis Receives FFAR Grant to Help Improve Vineyard Soil Health

Advancing Water Policy for Agricultural Sustainability

Accelerating Breeding Technology to Develop New Crops

Leveraging landrace genomics to rapidly engineer thermotolerant cassava

Using novel genes from wild germplasm to boost protein content in cultivated chickpea

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

High-throughput in-ovo sexing of chicken eggs using hyperspectral imaging & Raman spectroscopy

Project Ella

Modeling for genomic, blood & microbiological markers for liver abscesses in fed beef cattle

Understanding liver abscess pathogenesis & risk-factors of feedlot cattle reared in conventional beef versus dairy management systems

ICASA: Defining the contribution of acidosis to the liver abscess complex using novel challenge model to delineate impacts of diet composition and feeding management on liver abscess pathogenesis

Metabolomic analysis of blood plasma to identify unique biomarkers indicative of liver abscesses

Associations between feeding & management practices of beef-on-dairy cattle from birth to harvest with liver abscesses

Promoting antimicrobial stewardship through improved understanding of how feedlot cattle are classified based on BRD risk

Antimicrobial Use Monitoring & Benchmarking in U.S. Feedyards

Acoustic Monitoring to Support Mass Cattle Treatment Decisions

Developing a model protocol for tracking antibiotic use & AMR surveillance across a large-scale commercial swine production system

Comparison of a rail-mounted automated power washer to a commercial manual power washing crew in terms of cleanliness, manpower & water usage efficiency

ICASA Grant Analyzes Antimicrobial Data on Farms

An International Collaboration for Combating Fusarium Wilt in Cotton

Advancing the Design and Fabrication of Biopolymer-based Nanocomposites for Sustainable Food Packaging

Field trial of rice gene-edited rice for drought tolerance

FFAR Grant Protects Wheat Yields from Wheat Stem Sawfly

Elucidating the genetic basis for sub-tropical flowering in hemp

Breeding and Characterizing New Cultivars of Grain and Fiber Hemp

Researchers Investigate the Promise of Food Procurement

Irrigation Innovation Consortium Funds Seven Research Projects

An Integrative Approach to Biofortification of Staple Crops

FoodShot Global Challenge #1 Innovating Soil 3.0, Deep Dive GroundBreaker Prize (Colorado)

The Impact of Nutrition and Metabolic Capacity on Honeybee Health

Integrating Community and Modeling Efforts to Evaluate Impacts and Tradeoffs of Food System Interventions

Increasing Motivation and Promoting Persistence in Farmer Conservation

FFAR Grant Develops Premium Strawberry Flavors for Indoor Growing Environments

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

Integrating Genomics, Milk Spectrometry & Microbial Manipulations to Mitigate Enteric Methane Emissions from Dairy Cattle

Hydrogen Production and Hydrogen Utilization in the Rumen of Beef & Dairy Cattle: Key Rumen Microbiome Measurements to Understand Mechanisms Controlling Methanogenesis & Mitigating Enteric Methane Emissions

Using sensors & psychological profile to increase compliance of wean to market barn biosecurity

Development of an effective & practical biosecurity entrance system

Self-vaccinating pigs to save labor, improve efficacy & enhance biosecurity: Mhp, IAV, Ileitis & Erysipelas evaluations

Determining the economical & epidemiological benefit of cleaning & disinfecting market haul trailers within the U.S. swine industry

Scaling Quantified and Verified Soil Health, Climate and Natural Resources Outcomes from U.S. Agriculture in an Innovative Ecosystem Services Market Program

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

National Academy of Sciences Prize in Food & Agriculture Research: Huaijun Zhou

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

Development of Novel Methanogenesis Inhibitors in Ruminants

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

Grant Investigates Naturally Occurring Compound to Reduce Enteric Methane Emissions

Kirchner Food Fellowship HBCU 2023-2024 Cohort

Kirchner Food Fellowship Inaugural HBCU Cohort (2021-22)

FFAR Vet Fellows Fifth Cohort

FFAR Vet Fellows Fourth Cohort

FFAR Vet Fellows Third Cohort

FFAR Vet Fellows Second Cohort

FFAR Vet Fellows Inaugural Cohort

FFAR Program Aims to Catalyze Development of Underutilized Crops, India

FFAR Program Aims to Catalyze Development of Underutilized Crops, Davao del Sur, Philippines

FFAR Program Aims to Catalyze Development of Underutilized Crops, England

Food Waste Challenge, Oregon

Food Waste Challenge, Ohio

AgMission™ Funds Global Producers’ Consultation to Improve Climate-Smart Agriculture Adoption

Food Waste Challenge, Florida

Uniting Urban Agriculture Operations to Increase Food Security

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

The Revitalization of Indigenous Crops in the Southwest

Developing circular urban food systems for a rapidly growing desert city

Big Data to Improve and Sustain Wheat End-Use Quality in the Face of Increasingly Variable Climate Scenarios

Evaluating the use of calcium silicate amendments to manage the bioavailability of organic carbon in agricultural soils

Using a novel RNA therapy to tackle dual threat of tomato spotted wilt virus, a pandemic agricultural pathogen and its supervector, thrips

Harnessing mycorrhizal-microbial synergies for agricultural resilience and health

Establish Power-to-Food by Cultivating and Processing Hydrogenotrophic Single Cells to Design New Sustainable Protein Supply Chains Without Arable Land

Food security in the Anthropocene in Islander Communities

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