What We Do

The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR), pronounced /fɑr/, builds public-private partnerships to support bold science. Our research, co-created with the agriculture community, fills critical research gaps. We also invest in the future scientific workforce.

We support pioneering science to provide everyone access to affordable, nutritious food grown on thriving farms.

We do this in two ways:

We Fund Pioneering Research

We pioneer research in key challenge areas

Food and agriculture systems are complex, requiring collaboration among many disciplines and experts. Our Challenge Area research targets urgent food and agriculture topics. These Challenge Areas form our strategic research framework.

Soil Health

Our Soil Health Challenge Area develops sustainable on-farm practices from the ground-up by creating innovative solutions to improve soil health from measurement to adoption.

Sustainable Water Management

The Sustainable Water Management Challenge Area supports research that enhances and protects natural waters to sustain agricultural production and environmental health.

Next Generation Crops

The Next Generation Crop Challenge Area funds research on new and conventional crops to increase crop diversity and farm profitability.

Advanced Animal Systems

The Advanced Animal Systems Challenge Area supports research that improves animal health and welfare and pioneers practices that sustain our food system.

Urban Food Systems

The Urban Food Systems Challenge Area helps scientists, farmers and policymakers design equitable urban food systems that promote wellness and urban resilience.

Health-Agriculture Nexus

The Health-Agriculture Nexus Challenge Area supports research to reduce food and nutrition insecurity, decrease food waste and loss and improve human health.

We Invest in the Scientific Workforce

We prepare today’s scientific workforce to address the food and agriculture challenges of tomorrow

Pioneering science is only possible with a diverse, creative scientific workforce. We have fellowship, grant and award programs to recognize scientific leaders, provide unique research opportunities, support young faculty and inspire the next generation of scientists.

National Academy of Sciences Prize in Food & Agriculture Sciences

The NAS Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences recognizes a mid-career scientist making an extraordinary contribution to food and agriculture research.

New Innovator in Food & Agriculture Research Award

The New Innovator in Food and Agriculture Research Award provides early investment to launch young faculty into successful scientific careers.

FFAR Fellows Program

The FFAR Fellows Program provides graduate students with professional development, research training and mentorship to advance their careers.

Veterinary Student Research Fellowship

The Vet Fellows is a summer fellowship for veterinary students to pursue research on global food security and sustainable animal production.

Kirchner Fellowship

The Kirchner Fellowship trains university students each year to evaluate agriculture business investments and gives them discretion over investment decisions for companies solving critical food and agriculture challenges.

FFAR-OCP Disruptive Fertilizer Technology Fellows Program

This competitive fellowship aims to spur and foster disruptive innovation in the next generation of fertilizer research and development through a research challenge, whereby emerging young scientists in agriculture research can enhance their efforts in fertilizer efficiency research and technology development.

Tribal Agriculture Fellowship

The Tribal Agriculture Fellowship supports Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students pursuing technical, undergraduate and graduate degrees in agriculture and helps preserve and promote the legacy of agriculture in tribal communities.

Nature-Based Future Challenges

Nature-based solutions leverage the functions of nature to provide solutions to climate change.

How We Work

Science and collaboration are at the heart of our work.

We convene stakeholders to identify urgent challenges and the research needed to develop solutions. With our unique connections to the private and public sectors and our dedication to innovation, we only fund research that meets our rigorous scientific-review standards. Our publicly available results are shared with the scientific and agriculture communities who can employ these solutions.

Learn about our funding & approval

Understand the importance of our public-private partnerships

We Collaborate to Address Climate Change