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FFAR Grant Improves Chickpeas’ Protein Content & Quality 

Fast Tracking Climate Solutions from Global Germplasm Banks 

Year Awarded  2021

FFAR award amount   $5,000,000

Total award amount   $11,500,000

Location   Texcoco, Mexico

Matching Funders   Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Grantee Institution   CGIAR

The most dangerous impact of climate change is the disruption of global agriculture and food systems through disasters such as drought, heat and flooding. These disruptions, including decreased agricultural production and reduced harvests, are hardest on the approximately half a billion smallholder farmers living on less than two dollars a day. This initiative, led by CGIAR, advances transformative approaches to expand the use of genetic diversity from germplasm banks. The research ultimately aims to develop new climate-smart crop varieties for millions of smallholder farmers worldwide.

FFAR Vet Fellows Third Cohort 

Year Awarded  2021

Total award amount   $10,000 per student

Location   Washington, D.C.

Matching Funders   American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC)

The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) announced the 14 recipients of the 2021 Veterinary Student Research Fellowships (Vet Fellows) in partnership with the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC). This fellowship creates opportunities for veterinary students to pursue research on global food security and sustainable animal production.

Rapid Response to Coffee Leaf Rust 

Year Awarded  2021

FFAR award amount   $150,000

Total award amount   $431,103

Location   Hilo, HI

Program   Rapid Outcomes from Agricultural Research

Matching Funders   The Hawaii Coffee Association, Hawaii Coffee Growers Association, The Maui Coffee Association, Purdue University, United Ka'u Farmers Cooperative , The Synergistic Hawaii Agriculture Council and the Hawaii Department of Agriculture

Grantee Institution   Synergistic Hawaii Agriculture Council

Coffee leaf rust disease is threatening the Hawaii coffee industry, the state’s second top commodity. Caused by the emerging Hemileia vastatrix fungus, coffee leaf rust attacks the leaves of coffee trees, ultimately reducing coffee trees’ yields. To address this threat, Synergistic Hawaii Agriculture Council researchers are investigating the fungus and developing tactics to mitigate its spread.

FFAR Accelerates Breeding Technology to Develop New Crops 

Breeding drought & heat tolerant wheat 

Year Awarded  2021

FFAR award amount   $999,736

Total award amount   $2,141,527

Location   Pullman, WA

Program   Seeding Solutions

Matching Funders   Flinders University, LongReach Plant Breeders, O.A. Vogel Wheat Research Fund, Washington Grain Commission, Washington State University

Grantee Institution   Washington State University

Wheat and other plants avoid overheating by evaporating water from leaf surfaces. However, this mechanism is inefficient if the soil moisture is scarce. As climate change disrupts precipitation patterns, causing drought conditions to become more prevalent, wheat breeders must pursue every genetic advantage possible to increase the crop’s climate resiliency. Washington State University researchers are using a new technique developed in their lab to identify genes promoting heat and drought resiliency in wheat.

FFAR Grant Builds Supply Chains for Environmentally Beneficial Crops 

Unravelling the genetics of cowpea adaptation to high temperatures for legume improvement 

Year Awarded  2021

FFAR award amount   $490,617

Total award amount   $981,233

Location   Fort Collins, CO

Program   Increasing Climate Resilience in Crops

Matching Funders   Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Grantee Institution   Colarado State University

Cowpea is an important crop nutritionally and economically for smallholder farmers in Africa and other regions. It is also one of the legumes most tolerant to high temperatures, making it key to understanding the genetics of adaptation to heat stress. Still, relatively high night temperatures significantly reduce grain yields. This research is examining bioclimatic data—the relationship between climate and biological matter—and genetic information from cowpea varieties to search for gene variants associated with increased temperature tolerance.

Leveraging landrace genomics to rapidly engineer thermotolerant cassava 

Year Awarded  2021

FFAR award amount   $499,999

Total award amount   $999,999

Location   Davis, CA

Program   Increasing Climate Resilience in Crops

Matching Funders   Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Grantee Institution   University of California Davis

While scientists now wield breakthrough technologies to edit crop genomes to enable climate resiliency, there is still a gap in knowledge of which genes must be edited. This research is leveraging the valuable but largely untapped reservoir of information stored in the genomes of crop landraces—traditional varieties adapted to diverse environments. Combining newly developed genomic analysis and climate modelling approaches, researchers are identifying gene variants predicted to be adaptive to future climates, with an emphasis on temperature extremes, and using genetic engineering techniques to generate cassava varieties to accelerate breeding.

Genetic incorporation of physiological mechanisms of high night temperature tolerance into rice improvement programs 

Year Awarded  2021

FFAR award amount   $384,369

Total award amount   $768,738

Location   College Station, TX

Program   Increasing Climate Resilience in Crops

Matching Funders   Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Grantee Institution   Texas A&M AgriLife

Rice, a major global food crop, is susceptible to heat stress losses in yield. Nighttime heat stress affects processes throughout the rice plant, including photosynthesis, respiration, nutrient transfer and reproduction. This research is enhancing two targeted rice genes that can provide increased tolerance when under heat stress. The first gene alters specific plant hormone responses, and the second gene enhances nutrient transfer. The project will also distribute low-cost methods for screening rice and other crops for heat stress responses based on physiological traits, aiding breeding programs in low-income countries.