Grants Archive

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

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

Total award amount $150,000

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.

Plant-XR: A New Generation of Breeding Tools for Extra-Resilient Crops

Year Awarded 2022

Location Utrecht, the Netherlands

Matching Funders CropXR, Dutch Research Council, National Growth Fund

Grantee Institution CropXR

As the pace of climate change picks up, speeding the development of resilient crops is urgent. CropXR is building, supporting and facilitating a development pipeline for more resilient, sustainable and climate-adapted varieties of agricultural crops. The research combines plant biology, computational modelling and artificial intelligence to create computational, functional plant models to predict and guide rational, targeted breeding and cultivation strategies.

Increasing Water Productivity, Soil Carbon, and Sustainability of Integrated Multi-Crop Systems Using Field-Scale Research

Year Awarded 2022

FFAR award amount $7,657,633

Total award amount $16,362,948

Location Manhattan, KS

Matching Funders Bayer Crop Science, Iowa State University, Kansas State University, LandScan, LI-COR, Mississippi State University, The Ohio State University, The University of Kansas

Grantee Institution Kansas State University

Increasing crop yields while improving soil and watershed health requires understanding how agriculture management interacts with local environmental conditions. To date, this research remains fragmented and limited in scope. Kansas State University researchers are tackling these knowledge gaps and improving precision agriculture through an expansive study across the U.S. Corn Belt and Great Plains exploring how crop, soil and water management affect the soil microbial communities that drive agroecosystem functions. This project will investigate how combinations of cover crops, nitrogen, crop rotation and tillage, and water management under variable soil water conditions influence soil microbial communities that drive nutrient availability and loss.

Advancing DEI in Sharing Carbon & Ecosystems Services Information

Year Awarded 2022

FFAR award amount $100,000

Total award amount $200,000

Location Madison, WI

Matching Funders American Society of Agronomy (ASA), the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) and the Soil Science Society of America

This investment is building inclusivity and accessibility into the Tri-Societies’ new educational website Decode 6. This free, educational website–named for carbon, the sixth element on the periodic table–provides resources in carbon and ecosystem services and their respective markets for the agricultural and environmental sectors.

Identifying Proteins Required for Immunity to ASFV

Year Awarded 2022

FFAR award amount $500,000

Total award amount $1,000,000

Location Plum Island, NY

Program Rapid Outcomes from Agricultural Research

Matching Funders National Pork Board

African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) is a highly contagious, fatal disease in pigs that spreads rapidly and there is no commercially available vaccine to mitigate the spread of ASFV. Led by Dr. Douglas Gladue, USDA researchers are pinpointing the viral proteins involved in immunity and infection to develop a vector-based subunit vaccine, a vaccine that include a component of the virus to stimulate an immune response, for ASFV.

Analyzing the Efficacy of Live-vectored Prototype ASFV Subunit Vaccines

Year Awarded 2022

FFAR award amount $150,000

Total award amount $300,000

Location Manhattan, KS

Program Rapid Outcomes from Agricultural Research

Matching Funders MEDIAN Diagnostics

African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) is a highly contagious, fatal disease in pigs that spreads rapidly and there is no commercially available vaccine to mitigate the spread of ASFV. Led by Dr. Waithaka Mwangi, Kansas State University researchers are using an adenovirus vector vaccine, which is a tool used to deliver target antigens to the host, and a paper-based diagnostic test that distinguishes vaccinated from infected animals.

Assessment of the Available Literature and Gap Analysis on the Use of Industrial Hemp as an Animal Feed

Year Awarded 2022

FFAR award amount $6,972

Total award amount $13,944

Location Lexington, KY

Matching Funders International Hemp, University of Kentucky Research Foundation

Hemp grain and fiber have a favorable amino acid profile compared to other grains and excellent omega-3 fatty acid compounds, giving them potential as a feed additive for both companion pets and livestock. However, under current Food and Drug Administration and Center for Veterinary Medicine guidelines, hemp is prohibited for inclusion in the diets of livestock, primarily due to safety concerns of possible THC and other chemical transference to the animals or to humans through meat consumption. University of Kentucky researchers are identifying and organizing previous scientific studies using hemp as animal feed to find knowledge gaps that could identify future research opportunities and develop research goals that could more rapidly lead to federal approval of hemp grain and fiber as feed additives.

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

401 Grants found

Fast-Track On-Farm Impact from the Cool Soil Initiative to Enhance the Climate Resilience of Australia’s Grain Producers

Accelerating the Adoption of Climate Resilient Regenerative Agricultural Practices Across the Wheat and Maize Value Chain in the Mexican Bajío

Co-development of Innovative Prairie Cover Crop Strategies to Drive Adoption of Regenerative Climate Smart Agriculture in Key Sourcing Regions

AgMission™ Funds Global Youth Consultation to Co-Create Agricultural Solutions with Young Farmers

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

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

Improving Soil Health on Vineyards

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

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

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