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196 found

Evaluating the use of calcium silicate amendments to manage the bioavailability of organic carbon in agricultural soils

Year Awarded  2023

Total award amount   $449,607

Location   New Haven, CT

Grantee Institution   Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station Research Foundation Inc.

Organic carbon greatly benefits soil health and functions such as crop productivity, limiting erosion and sequestering carbon dioxide. Dr. Itamar Shabtai is evaluating the interactions of calcium inputs, currently studied for sequestering inorganic carbon, on soil organic carbon. The project is examining how these inputs affect soil organic carbon and soil health and whether they change soils’ microbial community.

Advancing the Design and Fabrication of Biopolymer-based Nanocomposites for Sustainable Food Packaging

Year Awarded  2023

Total award amount   $450,000

Location   Clemson, SC

Grantee Institution   Clemson University

Current food packaging still relies on non-biodegradable plastics, which persist in the environment for a long time and can harm wildlife. Dr. Zhaoxu Meng's research aims to design and fabricate high-performance packaging materials with sustainable, biodegradable biopolymers derived from renewable sources like food and agriculture waste and byproducts. Meng is using advanced technologies like computational modeling and artificial intelligence to guide the hypothesis-driven, bottom-up—linking molecular structure to materials' overall performance—design and fabrication processes.

Using a novel RNA therapy to tackle dual threat of tomato spotted wilt virus, a pandemic agricultural pathogen and its supervector, thrips

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $449,158

Total award amount   $449,158

Location   College Station, TX

Matching Funders   Texas A&M AgriLife Research

Grantee Institution   Texas A&M AgriLife Research

Currently, producers manage the tomato spotted wilt virus through genetically resistant varieties of tomato and pepper as well as insecticides to control thrips, an insect that spreads the virus. However, novel strains of tomato spotted wilt virus have overcome the genetic resistance, and thrips have developed insecticide resistance. Dr. Kiran Gadhave is developing a type of RNA that can deliver targeted therapeutics, both preventative and curative, specifically tailored against the virus and thrips to the tomato and pepper, helping to develop a novel, sustainable, economical, eco-friendly tool for pest management.

Harnessing mycorrhizal-microbial synergies for agricultural resilience and health

Year Awarded  2023

Total award amount   $449,897

Location   Amherst, MA

Grantee Institution   University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Beneficial partnerships that form between mycorrhizal fungi and most agricultural crop families can support crop productivity and soil health. Recent research shows that these benefits partly depend upon interactions between the fungi and other soil microorganisms. Through interdisciplinary collaborations and analytical approaches that span molecular measurements and cellular imaging to field trials, Dr. Rachel Hestrin is investigating how mycorrhizal-microbial relationships facilitate soil nutrient cycling, organic matter formation and other processes that promote soil health.

Food security in the Anthropocene in Islander Communities

Year Awarded  2023

Total award amount   $449,942

Location   Honolulu, HI

Grantee Institution   University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

Dr. Subhashni Raj is analyzing how the COVID pandemic disruptions affected food supply chains in communities in Hawaii and Fiji and the role the presence of traditional and ancestral food systems may have played in shoring up food security. By understanding the role of Indigenous and ancestral food pathways in maintaining food security during a crisis, Raj is developing plans to restore traditional and Indigenous food pathways into the food systems.

Next-Generation Carbon Capture for Agricultural Crop Applications

Year Awarded  2023

Total award amount   $450,000

Location   La Jolla, CA

Grantee Institution   The Scripps Research Institute

The enzyme RuBisCo plays a key role in photosynthesis as it binds directly to carbon dioxide. Dr. Ahmed Badran’s lab developed RuBisCo alternatives that improve photosynthetic efficiency, and the research team is aiming to apply these alternative enzymes to a variety of crops. By increasing photosynthetic efficiency, the researcher hopes to increase crops’ growth rate, yield and tolerance to high temperatures and drought.

Orthogonal Nano-Engineering (ONE) for Rational Design of Food Contact Surfaces

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $448,141

Total award amount   $541,173

Location   Blacksburg, VA

Matching Funders   Virginia Tech

Grantee Institution   Virginia Tech

In food processing and packaging environments, food contact surfaces often harbor microbes, compromising food safety and quality. Dr. Yifan Cheng is advancing nanoengineering and enhancing knowledge of these interactions to develop surfaces with nanostructures that disrupt bacterial cell walls upon contact, effectively killing bacteria without using biocides or sanitizers.

Establishing Viable Organic Orchard Crop Systems for the Northeast U.S.

Year Awarded  2023

Total award amount   $449,841

Location   Kutztown, PA

Grantee Institution   Rodale Institute

In many temperate, humid climates, perennial crop production has focused on fruits such as apples and peaches, which are increasingly at risk from climate change, pests and pathogens. Dr. Leigh Archer is examining the viability of alternative, low-input perennials for the Northeast, such as hazelnuts, which can better withstand climate and pest threats and provide diversity to Northeastern U.S. agriculture.

FFAR & AAVMC Open Applications for 2023 FFAR Vet Fellows

FFAR Veterinary Student Research Fellowship

Applications are under review