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

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88 Grants found

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Cover Crops for Soil Health: Demonstration of On-Farm Trial

Year Awarded  2020

FFAR award amount   $19,620

Total award amount   $19,620

Location   Rio Grande, TX

Matching Funders   Organic Farming Research Foundation

Grantee Institution   University of Texas Rio Grande

Weeds, pests and diseases often devastate soil health, impact environmental health and threaten global food security. In partnership with the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF), we awarded a grant to the University of Texas at Rio Grande to evaluate whether cover crops can restore soil health, suppress weeds and reduce pest populations. This research provides farmers with information on cover crop selection and management that improves the long-term sustainability of organic agriculture systems.

Biosolarization: Harnessing the Sun and Organic Matterfor Weed Control

Year Awarded  2020

FFAR award amount   $17,337

Total award amount   $17,337

Location   Sacramento Valley, CA

Matching Funders   Organic Farming Research Foundation

Grantee Institution   National Center for Appropriate Technology

Weeds, pests and diseases devastate soil health, impact environmental health and threaten global food security. In partnership with the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF), we awarded a grant to The National Center for Appropriate Technology to measuring the efficacy of biosolarization—an innovative weed control that combines soil solarization (trapping solar radiation under a plastic tarp) with biofumigation (using biologically-active plant substances to suppress soil-borne pests and pathogens) – to prove that biosolarization provides weed control in a better and more timely manner.

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

Grantee Institution   Point Blue Conservation Science

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)

Grantee Institution   Stroud Water Research Center

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

Grantee Institution   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.

Precision Irrigation Scheduling for Specialty Crops

Year Awarded  2019

FFAR award amount   $500,000

Total award amount   $1,323,242

Location   Boulder, CO

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   The University of Arizona Yuma, Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture, University of California, Western Growers Association

Grantee Institution   GeoVisual Analytics

Farmers growing specialty crops deal with a multitude of complexities such as lacking access to cost-effective irrigation guidance tools. Specialty crops are often over-irrigated which can jeopardize food security. GeoVisual Analytics researchers are improving irrigation guidance and grower adoption of precision irrigation technologies by analyzing data and field measurements.

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

Year Awarded  2019

Total award amount   $35,000

Location   Freeport, ME

Program   FoodShot Global Challenge

Matching Funders   FoodShot Global

Grantee Institution   Wolfe's Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment

FoodShot Global’s GroundBreaker Prize recognizes rising scientific stars whose research has identified technological and ecological tools that enable farmers to optimize yields and the long-term health of the land. Dr. Dorn Cox, Research Director, Wolfe's Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment, was awarded a $35,000 GroundBreaker “Seed” Prize to support his ambitious vision of using Open TEAM to collect environmental data, providing access to comprehensive global agricultural knowledge to help growers make sustainable and profitable farm management decisions.

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

Year Awarded  2019

Total award amount   $250,000

Location   Wageningen, Netherlands

Program   FoodShot Global Challenge

Matching Funders   FoodShot Global

Grantee Institution   Wageningen University

FoodShot Global’s GroundBreaker Prize recognizes rising scientific stars whose research has identified technological and ecological tools that enable farmers to optimize yields and the long-term health of the land. Dr. Gerlinde de Deyn, Professor in Soil Ecology, Wageningen University, received a $250,000 GroundBreaker Prize to determine soil components that enhance plant productivity and allow for better absorption of nutrients, suppress disease and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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

Year Awarded  2019

Total award amount   $250,000

Location   Fort Collins, CO

Program   FoodShot Global Challenge

Matching Funders   FoodShot Global

Grantee Institution   Colarado State University

FoodShot Global’s GroundBreaker Prize recognizes rising scientific stars whose research has identified technological and ecological tools that enable farmers to optimize yields and the long-term health of the land. Dr. Keith Paustian, University Distinguished Professor, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Colorado State University, received a $250,000 GroundBreaker Prize to accelerate the global adaptation of his COMET-Farm tool systems, which provide farmers and land managers with sustainability metrics and decision support resources that promote regenerative and conservation-based agricultural practices at scale.

Open Technology Ecosystem for Agricultural Management (OpenTEAM)

Year Awarded  2019

FFAR award amount   $5,000,000

Total award amount   $12,008,763

Location   Freeport, ME

Matching Funders   The Stonyfield Foundation, Stonyfield Organic, Wolfe's Neck Center, Our.Sci, Regen Network, UBC, MSU, AGS, CSU, Cool Farm Alliance, Soil Health Partnership, CU Boulder, General Mills

Grantee Institution   Wolfe's Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment

OpenTEAM, the first open source technology ecosystem in the world to address soil health and mitigate climate change, is projected to provide quantitative feedback on millions of acres of farmland by 2024. The platform offers field-level carbon measurement, digital management records, remote sensing, predictive analytics and input and economic management decision support in a connected platform that reduces the need for farmer data entry while improving access to various tools.

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