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Fermentation to unlock the potential of underutilized Indigenous plants – an integrated traditional ecological knowledge innovation toward bio- and techno-functional benefits 

Year Awarded  2021

Total award amount   $449,697

Location   Bozeman, MT

Grantee Institution   Montana State University

The transition from Indigenous food systems to industrialized farming with ultra-processed food continues to threaten native habitats and the health of Indigenous people. As efforts emerge to explore underutilized crops to meet nutritional needs and to sustain local ecosystems, fermentation has uncharted potential to unlock the possibility of Indigenous crops. This research is partnering with smallholder women farmers in Senegal to examine the nutritional and culinary benefits of fermenting Indigenous crops for developing healthy school meal items.

Award Winner

Improving soil health by engineering a rhizobacterium to depend on a plant and stimulate its immune system 

Year Awarded  2021

Total award amount   $450,000

Location   Newark, DE

Grantee Institution   University of Delaware

Beneficial microbes in a plant’s rhizosphere—the root-soil interface—increase plant growth and soil health, but not enough is known about how microbes, plants and soil interact and how to ensure microbes do not spread outside of the target soil, which could have unintended consequences. This research is examining whether a laboratory microbe can provide long-lasting pathogen resistance to crops, while also preventing the microbe’s growth, allowing it to be contained to a specific area. This project furthers development of targeted capabilities in crops to help them survive future stresses.

Award Winner

Creating a nitrogen fixing symbiont for cereal crops 

Year Awarded  2021

Total award amount   $450,000

Location   Fargo, ND

Grantee Institution   North Dakota State University

Nitrogen fertilizer increases crop yields to meet growing food demands, but because less than 50 percent of applied nitrogen fertilizer is used by plants, the excess fertilizer can threaten environmental and human health. Legume crops can create their own nitrogen through root nodule symbiosis with certain microbes. While research efforts are underway to engineer popular cereal crops to form root nodules, there is not a strong effort to generate a compatible microbial partner for these crops. This research is investigating root nodule symbiosis to develop microbes that can thrive in the cereal microbiome, initiate nodule formation and self-adapt for efficient nitrogen fixation and nutrient exchange with their host plant.

Award Winner

Advancing Water Policy for Agricultural Sustainability 

Year Awarded  2021

Total award amount   $422,976

Location   Davis, CA

Grantee Institution   University of California Berkely

Meeting future food needs requires effectively managing scarce groundwater. California is addressing this problem through the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, which ensures better groundwater use and management. This research is using the act as a case study to identify policies that enhance water sustainability and minimize regulation costs.

Award Winner

Building our understanding of soil health practice adoption through knowledge co-production with farmers 

Year Awarded  2021

FFAR award amount   $170,333

Total award amount   $208,712

Location   Omaha, NE

Matching Funders   The Nature Conservancy

Grantee Institution   The Nature Conservancy

A promise of big data is the ability to better understand and predict relevant social-ecological phenomena. However, modern machine learning and statistical analyses of big data often fail to embed the human context needed to uncover and predict these phenomena more fully. In this project, researchers are engaging farmers to create regressions trees—a type of decision-making algorithm—that describe individual farm-level decisions to adopt cover crops. This research is improving the efficacy of big data to predict not only when and where cover crops are likely to be adopted on the landscape but also why.

Award Winner

Getting to the Root of the Problem: Fastidious Pathogens 

Breakthrough for A Novel Bioassay for Culturing and Characterizing Fastidious Phytopathogens

New Innovator in Food & Agriculture Research Award Contingent on Funding Availability 

Applications are under review

FFAR Announces New Innovator in Food and Agriculture Research Awardees 

Field-deployable biosensors for managing animal health 

Year Awarded  2020

FFAR award amount   $450,000

Total award amount   $715,500

Location   West Lafayette, IN

Matching Funders   Ault Farms, Elanco and Goldstar Cattle

Grantee Institution   Purdue University

Bovine respiratory disease is an ailment that causes annual losses of almost $1 billion dollars to the beef cattle industry. Dr. Mohit Verma’s research is producing a rapid biosensor diagnostic test that detects viruses that cause bovine respiratory disease, delivering these results in less than 30 minutes. This test will guide veterinarians and cattle producers to the best methods for prevention and treatment of the disease. Results of the research will include less use of antibiotics, reduced losses from the disease, increased quality and productivity of beef cattle and improved animal welfare.

Award Winner

An Integrative Approach to Biofortification of Staple Crops 

Year Awarded  2020

Total award amount   $444,444

Location   Ft. Collins, CO

Grantee Institution   Colarado State University

Vitamin A deficiency is one of the most prevalent nutritional disorders worldwide and is the leading cause of preventable blindness in children under the age of five. Dr. Davina Rhodes’ research is integrating plant breeding, cereal chemistry and nutrition to develop sorghum grain with high concentrations of carotenoid, plant chemicals that help combat vitamin A deficiency. This approach could be used as a model for biofortification efforts in a broad range of nutrients and crops.

Award Winner