Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research Aims to Mitigate Potential Threats to Food Safety and Supply by Funding First Responders

Rapid Response Program Will Deploy Emergency Research, Education and Extension Dollars.

WASHINGTON, October 28, 2015 – The Foundation for Food and Agriculture (FFAR) today announced that it will launch an initiative to protect growers and consumers from threats to the nation’s food supply and safety. The funds deployed by the Foundation, a national nonprofit organization that supports actionable research addressing today’s challenges in food and agriculture, will allow researchers and outreach professionals to execute a targeted and swift response to a crisis.

The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research will work closely with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to identify imminent threats as well as the unique ways in which FFAR can complement the work being done by the Department. FFAR will aim to use its agility to convene partners who can rapidly execute targeted research and implementation that would not occur otherwise.

The Rapid Response Program is one of two inaugural initiatives announced today by the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research.

“Today marks an important step forward in establishing the Farm Bill’s new Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research,” said Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who championed the 2014 Farm Bill that authorized FFAR to increase innovative and actionable research in food and agriculture.

“This Rapid Response Program – modeled on the success of Project GREEEN at Michigan State University – will serve as an innovative tool to help protect farmers and consumers from immediate threats to our food supply. When emergencies strike, as we saw earlier this year with the avian flu outbreak, local resources are quickly depleted and existing research can fall short of controlling the problem. This program will provide a quick response to gaps in existing research. These are exactly the type of projects envisioned when the Foundation was created in the Farm Bill.”

After the passage of the initial project proposal at this week’s board meeting, the Foundation will move to develop the grant solicitation process and governance structure.

FFAR Board member Doug Buhler, Assistant Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies at Michigan State University, played a lead role in developing the Rapid Response Program. “The Michigan model of rapid response funding has been highly successful and I am confident that the benefits will be multiplied with the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research’s national scope,” said Buhler.

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Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research

The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) builds public-private partnerships to fund bold research addressing big food and agriculture challenges. FFAR was established in the 2014 Farm Bill to increase public agriculture research investments, fill knowledge gaps and complement the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s research agenda. FFAR’s model matches federal funding from Congress with private funding, delivering a powerful return on taxpayer investment. Through collaboration and partnerships, FFAR advances actionable science benefiting farmers, consumers and the environment.

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