Cultivating Thriving Production Systems

Our Production Systems research supports animal and crop systems by increasing productivity, combating pests and diseases, supporting animal welfare and safeguarding farmers’ livelihoods.
Our Production Systems research supports animal and crop systems by increasing productivity, combating pests and diseases, supporting animal welfare and safeguarding farmers’ livelihoods.

Contact Information:

science@foundationfar.org

Partnerships & Development Contact:

lhershey@foundationfar.org

Open Opportunities

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Prioritizing Production Systems Research

The global demand for affordable, nutritious food continues to increase, as do the challenges for farmers and ranchers to produce it. To overcome these challenges, the U.S. agriculture system must maintain productivity in the face of climate change, diseases and pests; improve animal health and welfare including the judicious use of antibiotics; ensure access to healthy affordable food, all while minimizing environmental impacts.

FFAR-funded research develops scientific solutions to these challenges. To safeguard food supplies, we also fund research directed at new and emerging food production threats. We focus on research that advances animal health and welfare; economic, social and environmental benefits; accelerated plant breeding and seed production; and producers’ ability to make informed decisions.

Our Production Systems Priority Area supports animal, crop and integrated crop-animal research.

Animal Systems Research 

FFAR supports research to enhance dairy, beef, egg and poultry, swine and aquaculture production. We focus on rigorous scientific research that addresses the urgent problems producers face and develop science-based solutions to improve animal health and welfare, advance environmental sustainability, bolster producer profitability and sustain our food supply.

Crop Systems Research 

FFAR supports crop production research to provide producers with resilient, nutritious, sustainable and productive crops and cropping systems. We focus on pioneering scientific research that advances breeding and seed production technologies, improves crop resilience and productivity and creates economic security and opportunities for farmers while offering environmental benefits and increasing food security.

Production Systems Research Themes:

Crop Resilience & Productivity

This theme advances research that delivers crop productivity and resilience against biotic and abiotic stress.
Angus cows on green pasture

Integrated Animal Health, Welfare & Productivity

This theme supports research that improves animal health and welfare while maintaining or increasing productivity.

Economically Viable Systems

This theme supports research that designs and assesses adaptive, resilient production systems to advance farmers’ and ranchers’ profitability now and into the future.
Chicken in a green pasture

Environmental Sustainability

This theme advances research to cultivate efficient animal and crop systems that protect and regenerate natural resources.

Production Systems Consortia

Crops of the Future Collaborative

Crops of the Future, a public-private collaborative, expands our knowledge of the traits that give rise to characteristics crops need to adapt to a changing future.

Greener Cattle Initiative

The Greener Cattle Initiative is a consortium of stakeholders who share knowledge, leverage investments and accelerate research to identify, develop and/or validate scientifically sound, commercially feasible and socially responsible practices and technologies that reduce enteric methane emissions from dairy and beef cattle to slow the effects of climate change.

Hemp Research Consortium

The Hemp Research Consortium fosters a deeper understanding of the relationship between genes, physiology and the environment to optimize industrial hemp production.

International Consortium for Antimicrobial Stewardship in Agriculture (ICASA)

The International Consortium for Antimicrobial Stewardship in Agriculture (ICASA) advances research on antimicrobial stewardship in animal agriculture. This public-private partnership promotes the judicious use of antibiotics and improves animal welfare.

Production Systems Grant Programs

Accelerated Crop Breeding

This research increases the transferability of advanced breeding methods to accelerate the development of diverse crop species suited to sustainable agriculture and improved human nutrition.

Egg-Tech Prize

The Egg-Tech Prize seeks to revolutionize global egg production by offering up to $6 million in prizes to develop a technology that determines an egg’s sex before it hatches.

Increasing Climate Resilience in Crops

Our Increasing Climate Resilience in Crops Program is developing solutions to increase crops’ tolerance for higher temperatures.

Close up of one white pig seated behind and standing in front, against blurred background of ground, staring at viewer

Japanese Encephalitis Virus Research Program

Proactively protecting the health of the U.S. swine herd by enhancing the prevention, preparedness and response capabilities for Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), a transboundary disease risk for U.S. introduction.

Cage-free layer hen

Layer Hen Keel Bone Health Program

Bone fractures, which cause pain and decrease egg production, are one known challenge to raising hens in cage-free housing systems and are particularly prevalent in the keel, or breastbone. To address this issue, the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and Open Philanthropy are launching the Keel Bone Health program to decrease the occurrence of keel bone injuries and improve welfare in commercial laying hens.

Plant Protein Enhancement Project

Our Crops of the Future Consortium’s Plant Protein Enhancement Project is creating the necessary tools to feed the growing demand for plant-based proteins.

Rapid Outcomes from Agricultural Research

The ROAR program supports research and outreach in response to emerging threats to the nation’s food supply or agricultural systems.

Seeding Solutions

Seeding Solutions is our annual grant program that funds research pioneering science in each of our Research Priorities. We specifically support projects that convene unique partners from across the food and agriculture sector to solve bold challenges.

SMART Broiler

The SMART Broiler research initiative is offering multiple grants to develop technologies that objectively assess broiler chickens’ welfare in commercial facilities.

Many white piglets coming down a concrete aisle in a commercial setting

Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program

Proactively enhancing wean-to-harvest biosecurity will help control the next emerging disease in the U.S. pork industry and improve U.S. swine herd health.

Production Systems Grants

Decreasing Pulmonary-Associated Mortality in Feedlot Cattle Using Refined Case Definitions & Predictive Analytics, Emphasizing Acute Interstitial Pneumonia & Late Day BRD

Year Awarded  2024

FFAR award amount   $1,223,474

Total award amount   $2,446,948

Location   Manhattan, KS

Matching Funders   Colorado State University, Innovative Livestock Services, Five Rivers Cattle Feeding K-State Mississippi State University, Nanostring, Texas A&M University and Veterinary Research & Consulting Services

Grantee Institution   Kansas State University

Investigating waterless decontamination and application potential in transportation biosecurity

Year Awarded  2024

Total award amount   $102,283

Location   St. Peter, MN

Program   Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program

Matching Funders   Swine Health Information Center and the Pork Checkoff

Grantee Institution   Swine Vet Center

What is the cost of disease for grow-finish producers?

Year Awarded  2024

Total award amount   $171,985

Location   Pipestone, MN

Program   Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program

Matching Funders   Swine Health Information Center and the Pork Checkoff

Grantee Institution   Pipestone Research

See all Production Systems Awarded Grants 

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The Latest

Insights

Our Insights highlight unique perspectives from across the food and agriculture community.

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The Aim For Healthy, Productive & Environmentally Friendly, Southeastern Beef Calves

Federico Tarnonsky

FFAR Fellow (2022-2025), University of Florida

Time Teaches Biosecurity Importance

Kevin Schulz

Kevin Schulz

Editor, The Farmer/Farm Progress

Greener Cattle Initiative is Game Changer for Dairy’s Future

Dr. Juan Tricarico

Dr. Juan Tricarico

Senior Vice President, Environmental Research, Dairy Management Inc.

Reducing Enteric Methane Emissions from Dairy Cattle

Francisco Penagaricano headshot

Dr. Francisco Peñagaricano and Dr. Guillermo Martinez Boggio

Let’s Raise a Glass on National Milk Day to the Power of Agriculture Research

Krysta Harden headshot

Krysta Harden

President and CEO U.S. Dairy Export Council

Building Team Chemistry: The Bigger Picture Behind Cows & Climate

Conor McCabe headshot

Conor McCabe

Animal Biology Graduate Student, UC Davis

Insight on Livestock Methane Mitigation

Dr. Rod Mackie

Dr. Rod Mackie, Professor, Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

Champaign, IL

Indigenous Farmers are Leading a “New Green Revolution” Focused on Hemp

James DeDecker, Director, Michigan State University – Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center Mary Donner, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians – Ziibimijwang Farm Executive Director and Tribal Citizen

FFAR Vet Student Fellow Research Spotlight

Anna Schaubeck

2021 FFAR Veterinary Student Research Fellow

Celebrating Innovation on National Egg Day

Paul Montgomery

Paul Montgomery

Director of Communications, United Egg Producers

Going Nuts: Nut Crops as Climate Resilient Protein Alternatives for the Future

Matt Davis

University of California, Davis

How Heat Stress Impacts Swine Health

FFAR Fellow, Lauren Anderson

North Carolina State University

Building Tools for Plant Genome Editing

FFAR Fellow, Simon Sretenovic

University of Maryland, College Park

Tackling Malnutrition with Biofortification

Aichatou Djibo Waziri

Washington State University

Wheat: already delicious and now nutritious

Addison Carroll

FFAR Fellow

Dusting the Soil for Fungus-Prints: Spinach Seed Production and One of its Greatest Threats

Alex Batson

Washington State University

A day on the Battlefield: Searching for Perennial defenses in wild places

Kelsey Peterson

2019-2022 FFAR Fellow

Heavy Metal and Chocolate: Not the Best Pairing  

Zachary Dashner

2018-2021 FFAR Fellow

Dairy Cattle Metabolic Capacity: Milking It for all It’s Worth

Linda Beckett

2019-2022 FFAR Fellow

News

The latest news and updates from FFAR.

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FFAR Aims to Help Farmers Manage Manure More Sustainably & Profitably

Hemp Research Consortium Grant Examines Biopesticides for Hemp Treatment

Seeding Solutions Grant Developing Tomato Resistance to Parasitic Weed

Crops of the Future Grant Improves Stress Tolerance in Carrots

ICASA Award Addresses Antimicrobial Stewardship for Bovine Respiratory Disease

Swine Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Program Funds Additional Research

FFAR Names Sixth Cohort of Veterinary Fellows

U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef & FFAR Announce Focus Group Series to Develop Sustainable Beef Research Roadmap

FFAR-Funded Research to Prevent African Swine Fever Virus

Greener Cattle Initiative Opens Call for Enteric Methane Emission Research

FFAR & AAVMC Open Applications for 2024 FFAR Vet Fellows

Japanese Encephalitis Virus Research Protects U.S. Swine

FFAR & Open Philanthropy Announce Egg-Tech Prize Finalists

ICASA Grants Seek to Address Liver Abscess Formation in Cattle

Developing Smart Breeding Methods to Increase Crop Resilience

ICASA Awards Grants to Address Antimicrobial Resistance in Cattle & Swine

Scientists Unite to Combat Fusarium Wilt in Cotton

Increasing Drought Tolerance in Rice

Improving Yields & Traits in U.S. Hemp Crops

Cattle Industry Consortium Funds Research Aimed at Reducing Enteric Methane Emissions

Breakthroughs

Tools, technologies and strategies from the research we fund.

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Unlocking Genetic Heat Tolerance in Cattle

Breakthrough for Precision Bred Adaptation of Elite Taurine Breeds of Beef & Dairy Cattle

Accelerating Crop Development with Improved Haploid Fertility

Breakthrough for Accelerated Development of Crops of the Future

Radiography could transform poultry breeding

Breakthrough for FFAR Awards $1.4 Million to Purdue University, University of California, Davis and University of Edinburgh Researchers to Improve Health and Productivity of Egg-Laying Hens

Research Pinpoints Why Dairy Cows Produce Less Milk in Warm Weather and Develops Nutrition-Based Solution

Breakthrough for FFAR Grant Helps Heat-Stressed Dairy Cows Weather Increasing Temperatures

Getting to the Root of the Problem: Fastidious Pathogens

Breakthrough for A Novel Bioassay for Culturing and Characterizing Fastidious Phytopathogens

Feed Additives Stop Viral Disease Spread, Researchers Find

Breakthrough for FFAR-Funded Research Finds Feed Additives Stop the Spread of Viral Diseases

Initial Successes in Ending Surgical Castration of Swine

Breakthrough for FFAR Awards $500,000 Grant to Improve Swine Health and Well-Being

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