OATS (Organic Agronomy Training Service) 

The Organic Training for Agricultural Professionals Prize supports OATS (Organic Agronomy Training Service) to increase domestic organic crop production by supporting the development of an organic professional certificate program, a variety of multi-media training tools and an industry-wide assessment to identify future participants and necessary education. OATS is a training program for agricultural professionals working with organic or transitioning farmers in the northern tier of the U.S., fiscally sponsored by the Organic Trade Association.

Performance-Based Financing for Sustainable Water Management 

Performance-Based Financing Models for Sustainable Water Management in the Great Lakes Basin 

Though fertilizer runoff can cause water pollution, the demand for high crop yields often stymies conservation practices. One possible answer lies with encouraging private financiers to incentivize farm sustainability efforts by identifying the full lending risks associated with fertilizer emissions. Researchers are exploring this potential solution by linking a water quality modeling and monitoring system in the Lake Huron drainage basin to sustainability-based financial products for farmers.

FoodShot Global Challenge #3 Bioactive Foods GroundBreaker Prize (Champaign, Illinois) 

FoodShot Global’s GroundBreaker Prize recognizes rising scientific stars whose research has identified technological and ecological tools that enable farmers to optimize yields and the long-term health of the land. Dr. Kaiyu Guan, Blue Waters professor at the University of Illinois and president of Habiterre, received $120,000 for his work in Innovating Soil 3.0 to develop a “system of systems” approach that can support farmer decision-making to improve soil health and provide scientifically rigorous MRV (monitoring, reporting and verification) services to ecosystem services markets.

FoodShot Global Challenge #3 Bioactive Foods GroundBreaker Prize (Maryland) 

FoodShot Global’s GroundBreaker Prize recognizes rising scientific stars whose research has identified technological and ecological tools that enable farmers to optimize yields and the long-term health of the land. Dr. Ray Weil, professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland, received $240,000 for his work at the intersection of BioActive Foods, Precision Protein and Innovating Soil to improve human nutrition by addressing low sulfur soils that may cause deficiencies in key amino acids in African countries. Dr. Weil will develop innovative management practices that use Indigenous resources and plant diversity to help soils and agroecosystems provide crops with enough sulfur to increase yields and farmer income, while enhancing the amino acid profiles – and hence the nutritional quality – of the protein in grain legumes such as bean, peanut, cowpea and soybean.

FoodShot Global Challenge #3 Bioactive Foods GroundBreaker Prize (Massachusetts) 

FoodShot Global’s GroundBreaker Prize recognizes rising scientific stars whose research has identified technological and ecological tools that enable farmers to optimize yields and the long-term health of the land. Josh Trautwein, CEO of About Fresh, received $120,000 for his work in BioActive Foods to deploy user-centered design and technology, including the Fresh Connect debit card, to create a scalable model for increasing access to healthy foods in low-income communities. About Fresh’s Fresh Connect platform enables healthcare organizations to make targeted investments in healthy food for people and to measure the impact of their investment, fulfilling the BioActive Foods goal of improving access to nutrient-dense and optimized foods that support brain, immune system, cardiovascular, metabolic and gut health.