Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) Reinvestment
RIPE: Harnessing the Sun to Help Feed the World
Generating
Agroecosystems Solutions
RIPE: Harnessing the Sun to Help Feed the World
Generating
Agroecosystems Solutions
Dr. Steve Long
University of Illinois
Cultivating Food Security Solutions by Improving Photosynthesis
While no single strategy will achieve the 50 to 70 percent increase in production needed to meet the global food demands of 2050, improving photosynthesis remains a source of untapped potential. Understanding the complex 170-step photosynthetic process is critical to streamlining crop production and improving global food sustainability.
Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) is an international research project engineering crops to be more productive by improving photosynthesis, the natural process all plants use to convert sunlight into energy and yields. By equipping farmers with higher-yielding crops, researchers are increasing global food productivity.
Why this Research is Important
RIPE supports critical, ongoing research to break through stagnant yield ceilings for staple food crops like cassava, soybean, and cowpea. RIPE research is equipping farmers around the world with another tool to enhance global food security and their own livelihoods.
Details About this Research
Fifty years of photosynthesis research, with several landmark discoveries at the University of Illinois through state and federal partnerships, enabled RIPE to simulate the 170-step process of photosynthesis from the inner workings of enzymes to interactions between neighboring plants in the field. RIPE used these models to identify seven potential pipelines to improve photosynthesis and with the support of an initial $25 million, five-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, began work in 2012 to try to turn their ideas into sustainable yield increases.
The initial grant produced insights on how to boost crop yields by 20 percent through increased photosynthetic efficiency. This $45 million investment from FFAR, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office ensures we can continue to build off this critical research.
RIPE researchers conduct field trials
RIPE is Harvesting Real Results
Agriculture has been shown to reduce poverty four times more effectively than growth in other sectors. Researchers anticipate commercial seeds from this research will be available to farmers within approximately 15 years. RIPE and its funders will ensure their high-yielding food crops are globally available, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia and affordable for smallholder farmers to help feed the world’s hungriest and reduce poverty.
RIPE researchers conduct field trials
How This Research Contributes to Our Mission
The RIPE project, led by the University of Illinois, is an international effort that is actively working to address and ultimately increase food security across the globe. The goal is to future-proof our food supply by engineering crops to be more productive through improving photosynthesis. Farmers in Illinois and all over the globe would thereby benefit from higher-yielding crops, increasing their income and opportunities.
Matching Funders
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), formerly the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID).
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The Latest
Insights
Our Insights highlight unique perspectives from across the food and agriculture community.
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Manure – Waste or Resource?
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University of Minnesota
Diversifying the Future of Venture Capital
The first cohort of the HBCU Kirchner Fellows are Bryana Pittman, Kwame Jackson and Martin Adu-Boahene who co-wrote this Insights piece to share the value of this fellowship and its potential impact.
Can Adding Carbon to the Soil Help us Manage Weeds?
Maria Gannett
2019-2022 FFAR Fellow
Taking Science Beyond the Bench: Critical Reflections for Change-Oriented Research
Krista Marshall
2019-2022 FFAR Fellow
Soil is Not Dirt
Aaron Prairie
2020-2023 FFAR Fellow
Fine-tuning photosynthesis
Dhruv Patel
2019-2022 FFAR Fellow
Can biochar help adapt agriculture to a hotter, dryer climate?
Shelby Hoglund
2018-2021 FFAR Fellow
Milkweeds: Medicine for Monarchs?
Annie Krueger
2018-2021 FFAR Fellow
The Time is RIPE for Agricultural Innovation
Sally Rockey, Ph.D.
Executive Director Emeritus
News
The latest news and updates from FFAR.
See all News
FFAR & FoodShot Global Announce GroundBreaker Prize Winners in Water Research
FFAR & The Organic Center Invest $632,000 into the Future of Organic Farming
FFAR Grant Reduces Nitrogen Inputs, Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Grant Transforms Wastewater to Crop Fertilizer
GroundBreaker Prize to Fund Critical Water Research
FFAR Renews ESMC Partnership to Grow Ecosystem Services Market Program
Mitigating Farm Risk Through Improved Soil Health
FFAR & OCP North America Announce Fertilizer Fellowship Awardees & 2023 Opportunities
FFAR and The Organic Center Announce $2.4 Million in Funding for Organic Outreach and Research
RIPE research proves potential for measuring root biomass throughout growing season
Producers and Researchers Agree, Scale Up of a Sustainable Biochar Industry is Critical to Meet Climate Targets, and Build Agricultural Resilience and Soil Health
FFAR and FoodShot Global Announce GroundBreaker Prize Winners
Advancing DEI in Sharing Carbon & Ecosystems Services Information
FFAR Announces $1 Million for Organic Research to Tuskegee University
FFAR & The Organic Center Advance Organic Agriculture
RIPE Researchers Report Faster Screening of Photoprotection in Crops
RIPE Researchers Prove Bioengineering Better Photosynthesis Increases Yields in Food Crops for the First Time
RIPE Shows Potential for Improved Water-Use Efficiency in Field-Grown Plants
UC Davis Receives FFAR Grant to Help Improve Vineyard Soil Health
FFAR and OFRF Announce Six Organic Farming Research Project Awardees
Breakthroughs
Tools, technologies and strategies from the research we fund.
See all Breakthroughs
New Study Shows AI & Supercomputing Can Quantify Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Individual Farms
Breakthrough for FFAR Grant Quantifies Organic Carbon to Improve Agricultural Productivity
Building Collaborations for Technology-Driven Solutions in Agriculture
Breakthrough for Open Technology Ecosystem for Agricultural Management (OpenTEAM)
Documenting Adaptive Multi-Paddock Grazing’s Benefits
Breakthrough for Quantifying the Advantages of Multi-Paddock (AMP) Grazing in the U.S. Southeast & Northern Great Plains
RIPE Researchers Prove Bioengineering Better Photosynthesis Increases Yields in Food Crops for the First Time
Breakthrough for Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) Reinvestment