FFAR Fellows Program

As the population increases, food insecurity is also on the rise. One potential solution for addressing agriculture and food security challenges is plant growth-promoting (PGP) microbes. Ahmad is identifying and understanding the microbes that colonize wheat roots and the surrounding soil. This research will reduce agricultural inputs like pesticides and fertilizers while also increasing crop yields and improving soil health. 

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Sweet potatoes are an essential horticultural crop. Severe weather events, higher humidity and temperatures can increase the crop’s susceptibility to plant pathogens. Butler is analyzing climate, weather, land use and soil data to understand the effects it has on crop yield, size and marketability of the sweet potato. This research focuses on data collected from field to market and will provide insight on how sweet potatoes impact the food system.

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Domestication of bread wheat has created a lack of genetic diversity in wheat compared to its wild relatives. By using genetic introgression, the transfer of genetics from one species into another, genetic diversity can be reintroduced. Carroll is identifying patterns of genetic introgression using a single genotyping data to help improve bread wheat yield and overall bread quality.

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Addressing food productivity gaps between supply and demand are critical to ensuring food security. Shiang-Wan Chin is developing a multi-objective decision making software tool to support farmers to profitability manage their farms while sustaining the environment.

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Prairie potholes are depressional wetlands often found in the upper Midwest region on the United States. Prairie pothole wetlands are typically drained to improve crop yields yet, this hinders the benefits that wetlands provide on soil health and water management. Chizen is evaluating how soil carbon storage impacts the type of prairie pothole wetland and overall soil health.

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Invasive pests such as the helicoverpa zea can be economically damaging, impacting a variety of essential crops such as soybean, corn and more. Pests are developing resistance to current insecticide usage. Dillard is assessing how current reduced of no-till recommendations can be integrated with pest management. This research provides a site-specific sustainable pest management tool that can replace current short-term insecticide usage.

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Farmers and ranchers are faced with the growing demand for animal protein, while also maintaining overall productivity and animal welfare. Osario Doblado is evaluating the use of astringent biomolecules such as tannins/saponins to increase beef cattle performance while decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.

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Regenerative agriculture has great potential to improve crop yields, water management and reduce greenhouse gas emissions; however, questions remain about the ability of regenerative agriculture to deliver. Ellis is evaluating the soil health, socio-economic and climate resilience impacts of regenerative agriculture systems to determine sustainable on-farm practices that restore degraded ecosystems.

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Heat stress is an increasingly grave concern in swine production due to the impacts of climate change. Genetic selection for pigs at the nucleus level can help provide a sustainable population. Graham is assessing the transgenerational epigenetic effect in-utero heat stress in swine populations.

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Morbidity, increasing mortality rates and disease resistance negatively impacting the swine industry. Grohmann is evaluating environmental data derived from smart farms using advanced remote sensors to increase profitability, sustainability and animal welfare in the swine industry.

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Severe contemporary drought has altered the role of soil health and drought tolerance in plants. Hammer is investigating how microbiome benefits are altered by drought selection, local adaptation and the mechanisms underlying those effects. This research provides the basis for breeding for microbiome-mediated benefits.

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Water scarcity is a rising challenge as population increases and the effects of climate change intensifies. Lamsal is developing a model that quantifies water consumption at fine spatial and temporal resolution for the United States. This research provides and understanding of how past water use and projected future crop water requirements will impact agriculture.

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Sweet potatoes vary in size to a great degree across individual potatoes. For this reason, many sweet potatoes are discarded for not meeting local and international market regulations. Enrique Pena Martinez is using optical sensors to predict sweet potato growth parameters. This research will improve the efficiency and sustainability of sweet potato production.

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Cattle stomach fermentation of plant matter is a large producer of methane emissions. This methane is then belched out by the animal and makes up almost half of a dairy farm's emissions. McCabe’s is examining feed additives that are provided to cows to reduce their enteric fermentation emissions.

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McDaniel’s is conducting research on alternative pest management technologies in vineyards. The technologies she is pursuing include heated horticulture oil, ozonated water and ultraviolet C light (UVC) as pest management for powdery mildew and grape mealy bug in vineyards.

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A profitable sale of sweet potatoes oftentimes depends on a preferred appearance as consumers purchase sweet potatoes of a desired look and size. McDowell is optimizing the sweet potato supply chain in North Carolina by analyzing data and providing insight on how to produce more of the desired sweet potatoes, improving sweet potato harvests and decreasing food waste.

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Ingestion and subsequent cellular uptake of double stranded RNA (dsRNA) molecules triggers the RNA interference gene silencing mechanism resulting in sequence-specific suppression of the target gene. Silencing of essential insect genes by a complementary dsRNA can result in growth inhibition, abnormalities or insect death. Mishra is focused on understanding resistance to insecticidal dsRNA in the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata). 

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Morales is examining an image-derived phenotype known as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) which is a measure of canopy coverage and plant photosynthetic activity. His goal is to understand the stability of this phenotype across genotypes (maize hybrids and alfalfa accessions) and across environments.

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During weaning, piglets are exposed to a variety of infectious agents as they are transported and housed with other piglets. This often leads to post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) during the first two weeks post weaning, a serious challenge to the swine industry causing significant economic loss.  Fecal transplant therapy might be effective in the treatment of PWD. Oladele’s research explores the relationship between the microbiome and the host, using this understanding to develop fecal transplant therapy for the prevention and treatment of PWD.

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Olivo’s research is testing and comparing multiple whole-farm evaluation tools for assessment of environmental outcomes on a range of New York dairy farms. He is also developing key performance indicators and benchmarking strategies for a holistic assessment of a farm’s environmental performance.

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Paudel’s research is focused on the onion, one of the important agricultural produce in Georgia and the US, and the effects of the bacterial pathogen Burkholderia gladioli pv. allicola (Bga). Disease mechanisms, survival, dispersal and host interactions aspects of this soil-borne pathogen are relatively understudied. Paudel’s goal is to understand the genetic determinants of virulence in this pathogen using a functional genetics approach.

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50% of cultivable lands will be lost by the middle of the 21st century due to soil salinity. Traditional breeding and genetic engineering approaches using glycophytic (salt-sensitive) plants have had only limited success in developing salinity-resistant plants, despite significant efforts. Pradhan is unraveling the genetics of salt tolerance traits in halophytic (salt tolerant) turfgrasses by including a comparative approach with salt sensitive crop relatives like sorghum and finger millet. This may help pave the way for breeding salt tolerant cereals to combat food insecurity caused by yield loss due to saline soils. 

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Liver abscesses occur in 12-32% of the cattle in most feedlots. Thomas is designing a model to study liver abscesses more accurately and in more detail. Additionally, he is examining the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical and traditional liver abscesses prevention strategies.

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Triplett is identifying the mechanisms of resistance responsible for inducing tolerance, antixenosis (how much damage or how many herbivores a plant attracts) and antibiosis (how suitable the plant is for the herbivore) in sorghum to small insects called sugarcane aphids. Understanding these mechanisms would provide the necessary insights to produce diverse resistant hybrids by resistance type and location. To achieve this, he is employing an integrative approach that combines entomology, plant physiology, breeding, microscopy, biochemistry and atmospheric chemistry to identify the mechanistic basis of plant resistance to aphids.

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Nano-bubble technology is a technique that has the potential to increase the potency of commonly used antimicrobials in the food and dairy industry, which can make tremendous strides towards reducing food spoilage. Unger is evaluating the impact of gas nano-bubbles on the efficacy of common antimicrobials against various pathogenic and spoilage bacteria on dairy processing surfaces.

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Waziri is using genome wide association studies to identify spring wheat lines that include increased zinc and iron. She is also investigating the effect of different components of the wheat kernel on the human gut microbial community, which is tightly linked with human health.

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Pregnancy loss in cattle accounts for billions in lost revenue to the beef industry each year. It is often challenge to pinpoint exactly what causes reproductive loss. University of Florida research, Felipe Alves Correa Carvalho da Silva is identifying markers influenced by sex-steroid concentration that will predict pregnancy outcome in cattle. This research supports sustainability in cattle reproduction since by decreasing pregnancy loss will lead to increase production per unit of land.

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Protecting swine from disease is critical for pig producers. Understanding the swine microbiome, genetic materials such as bacteria and fungi that live inside their bodies, provides insights into health and disease issues impacting pigs. Anderson is investigating potential probiotic options from hardy, outdoor pigs that can improve pig welfare, reduce producer costs and ensure affordable pork products for consumers.

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Feeding dairy cows fat supplements provides energy to support high-fat milk production. While this practice is common, it is not widely understood and the efficiency varies. Milk fat contributes to milk prices. Bennett is researching the optimal amount of fatty acids dairy cows need to maximize digestibility, milk fat yield and health. Milk producers can use this research to optimize milk fat production.

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Insects are a novel way to provide protein for human and animal consumption. Black soldier fly larvae are especially ideal as livestock feed because of their high protein content. Additionally, the larvae waste can improve soil fertility and support urban agricultural environments, Chavez is investigating potential applications for waste produced by black soldier fly larvae during the industrial rearing process.

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The non-edible portion of plants, called Lignocellulosic biomass, is an inexpensive, renewable and abundant source of energy that does not impact human and animal food production Ehite is improving the commercial viability of fuel, chemical products and lignocellulosic biomass derived from energy. This research can enhance crop diversity, farm profitability and food security.

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With a rapidly changing environment and a growing population, agriculture must adapt to remain sustainable. Farber uses Raman spectra, a laser technology, to predict the health and stress of a plant. This research accelerates breeding and identifies diseases to ensure crops continue to thrive despite climate change.

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Potato late blight is a devastating potato disease caused by a fungus-like organism. Potato producers primarily use chemical fungicides to control late blight, however these fungicides can negatively impact leaf surfaces, soils and aquifers. Hansen is investigating spray induced gene silencing as alternative methods to control late blight in potato. This research provides growers alternative tools to protect potato crops.

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Understanding how crop interact with soil microbial communities could result in healthier soils. Focusing on different three perennial grains crops, Hwang is analyzing how these crop varieties and systems ultimately influence the microbial composition. This research is improving the overall functionality of soils.

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Stomata are small “mouths” on a plant that absorb carbon and result in water loss. In rice crops, water loss compromises performance and survivability, threatening food security. Optimizing stomatal density and physiology can increase water use efficiency without affecting crop performance. Karavolias is researching stomatal development and physiology to increase crop productivity in future climatic conditions.

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Seedbank management, controlling weed escapes before and after crop harvest, can reduce herbicide-resistant weeds and improve the longevity of available herbicide tools. Palmer amaranth, an aggressive weed species, threatens crop production and profitability. Focusing on cotton production, Kezar is developing integrated strategies for minimizing seedbank addition from palmer amaranth escapes.

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Close to 89 percent of the methane produced by livestock comes from the rumen of the animals through a group of microorganisms called methanogens. Stefanini Lopes is identifying key microbes in fermentation to decrease methane production.

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Nanoscale engineering tools pave new opportunities for exploring plant biotechnology, genetic transformations and improving water retention in crops. Lui is analyzing fundamental theories of fluid flow and continuum mechanics to model the response of cells to external stimuli, such as engineered nanoparticles and nonpolar molecules.

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Cowpea is a nutritious commercial crop that contributes significantly to the global economy. Devastating viral diseases in cowpea threatens global food security and impacts the economy. Mweta is investigating the resistance of organically grown cowpea to viral diseases to determine efficient crop management strategies.

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Lactic acid bacteria, a group of probiotic organisms commonly found in dairy products, enhances lactose digestions and strengthens immune health. Pan is using CRISPR-CAS technology to characterize how lactic acid bacteria can engineer the next generation of lactobacillus-based vaccines for humans and animals and antimicrobials for food safety.

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Bt crops, also known as bacillus thuringiensis, are a genetically modified bacteria that naturally produces toxins to protect crops from pests. Resistance evolution by insects threatens the success of Bt crops. Pezzini is studying the resistance of Helicoverpzea, a globally threatening pest, to Bt toxins expressed in corn. This research combines insect behavior and genetic data to evaluate the development of resistance.

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Soil health practices are essential for delivering a multitude of ecosystem services. Adoption of soil health practices in major corn and wheat producing states is alarmingly low. Prairie is analyzing management, soil and biodiversity data from 24 farms in Kansas to understand the mechanisms promoting soil health and management practices that facilitate them.

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Food systems and food security are complex issues involving dynamic interactions between physiological processes, societies, economies and the environment. Traditional, reductionist approaches do not capture unintended consequences or complex interrelationships between space and time. Roche is employing a community-based, system dynamics modeling method to relationships within the urban food system that characterize food security resilience and fragility.

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Cover crops, especially grass species such as cereal rye, mitigate nutrient loss from soils. However, cover crop adoption rates are low in the cold upper Midwest due to the short growing season. Sabbagh is studying the impacts these management practices have on nutrient cycling and soil health and how that affects row-crop productivity.

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Plant tissue culture and transformation is a critical step for plant breeding. Given its many advantages, such as long life, energy efficiency, low radiated heat and reliability, LED lighting is the future for plant tissue culture and transformation. Yet, little is known about the impact of LED lighting on the process. Shi is examining the effect of LED lighting intensity and spectrum on plant tissue culture and transformation.

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Population growth, climate change and decreases in arable farmland increases the need for productive and resilient crop varieties. Conventional breeding approaches to increase yields of major crops, such as rice and maize, cannot keep pace with the speed of change. Sretenovic is developing precise genome editing technologies in plants to meet global needs.

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Switchgrass is a leading biofuel feedstock for the emerging bio-economy. Soil microbes play a critical role in crop health and yield. Sutherland is leveraging deep-learning computational methods to improve breeding lines of switchgrass for desirable traits relevant to the US bioenergy market.

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The fermentative capacity of enteric microbes allows ruminants to utilize lignocellulose material. This enables ruminants to transform fibrous feedstuffs, from land not suitable for growing human-edible food, into meat, milk, vitamins and minerals. Tondini is enabling precision management of the rumen microbiome to maximize the conversion of these fibrous feedstuffs, while minimizing the environmental impact of ruminant production systems.

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Gene discovery is crucial to developing next-generation crops. Yet, the majority of collective research is focused on a subset of genes, not due to their importance, but due to human biases in how we conduct science and discover genes. Whitt is creating an unbiased gene selection method for genome wide association studies.

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The maritime Pacific Northwest is the only region suitable for spinach seed production in the US. However, Fusarium Wilt, a fungus caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Spinaciae, limits the potential of spinach in this region. Batson’s research identifies and characterizes unique regions F. oxysporum f. sp. spinaciae to understand what makes spinach susceptible to this fungus.

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Traditional corn-based diets fail to provide lactating dairy cows enough methionine and lysine, two essential amino acids. Without these nutrients, cows cannot reach their full potential for milk production. Beckett is determining the optimal combinations of feed for lactating dairy cows at several lactation stages and developing technologies to deliver these nutrients in a digestible form.

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The emerging grape industry in the US Mid-Atlantic is facing fungal diseases, which have not been well characterized. The lack of understanding is threatening yields of this increasingly important commodity. Cosseboom is examining the fungal pathogens causing these diseases to better understand and manage these diseases.

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Massive resources have been invested into nutrition interventions, programs and policies. However, long-term, concrete changes in the target communities are few and far-between. Donley is reassessing nutrition programs, incentives and interventions through a systems lens. Donley’s research examines the effects of specific actions on the food system to understand where interventions have the greatest impact.

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Flores is working with poultry, manufacturing their feed, processing the birds and analyzing large data sets. Flores aims to prove that artificial intelligence tools can advance agricultural research and the poultry industry.

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Weeds are an ever-present challenge for farmers, as they draw on the same nutrients the plants need. Current weed management strategies are overly reliant on chemical herbicides, which has led to an increasing number of herbicide resistant weeds. Gannett is researching alternatives to chemical weed control.

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Biochar, a charcoal-like substance created by burning organic agriculture material, is added to soil to enhance plant growth and reduce the need for water and fertilizer. Gelardi is investigating the effect biochar has on crop performance, environment and human health.

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More advanced, scalable technology is needed to increase agricultural sustainability. Goh’s research is developing technology that delivers genes to plants to improve crop performance.

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The human gut microbiome is a collection of bacteria, viruses and fungi in the human body that contributes to both health and disease. Korth’s research is identifying components of agricultural products, with a focus on crop plants, that alter the state of the microbiome. Korth is characterizing bacteria associated with health traits to develop diet supplements that improve human health.

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Probiotics are the bacteria that live inside our bodies and benefit health and prebiotics are the fiber that these probiotics eat to survive. Krug is analyzing changes in the GI microbiota, cognitive function, sleep quality, mental health and 24-hour urinary free-cortisol concentrations. This study expands the literature and knowledge about the role of prebiotics and probiotics in human health.

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Marshall is measuring how various management practices in 13 orchards influence water conservation, nutrient use efficiency, nitrogen cycling, soil structure, carbon accumulation and storage and soil microbial communities. This research improves knowledge of soil health in orchard systems.

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In the US, animal surgical procedures, such as castrations and dehorning, are often performed in ways that negatively impact animal welfare. Martin is investigating the role of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in controlling pain to assist veterinarians in administering pain control.

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Meeting future global food production demand requires enhanced tools and technologies. Ni’s research is developing technology to increase long-term crop yield.

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With the growing threats of climate change and diminishing natural resources, farmers must do more with less – and fast. Patel’s research is using genetic engineering to improve photosynthetic efficiency, improve water use and maximize crop yield.

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The sunflower-like perennial, Silphium integrifolium, which provides numerous ecosystem services, is losing its pest and pathogen resistance traits. Peterson is conducting a survey of the natural genetic variation of wild Silphium integrifoliu populations to assess where variation for pest and pathogen resistance exists.

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Cowpea is widely cultivated as a vegetable crop and a dry bean in semi-arid regions of the world. Cowpea productivity may be hindered by increasing temperatures and diseases. Ritte is identifying cowpeas with drought-tolerance and disease resistance to improve yields in a changing climate.

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Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on plant roots can improve yields, reduce the need for water and fertilizers and protect crops from pathogens. Stevenson’s research is addressing knowledge gaps preventing the fungi’s most effective use and application.

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Weeds can cause up to 45 percent yield loss when left unchecked in a crop. Herbicides are often the most cost-effective weed control, but herbicide resistance reduces their effectiveness. Barker aims to understand herbicide resistance in weeds and develop recommendations for sustainable herbicide management practices.

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Becker is examining the beneficial relationship between Mortierella elongate, a fungus that breaks down organic matter in soil and tomato plants.

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Blueberries are expensive because they must be hand harvested, which accounts for up to 90 percent of production costs. Machine harvesting blueberries can decrease costs by 60 percent, but machines only work if the berries are firm. Cappai is using new breeding techniques to develop blueberries that are machine harvestable to lower production costs.

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Dashner aims to understand iron uptake from soil in cacao plants and improve farmers’ ability to grow crops in iron-deficient environments.

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One of the biggest challenges in manure management is identifying economically feasible methods of volume reduction. Deviney is concentrating nutrients into a storable and transportable product by removing up to 90 percent of the excess water. Her research improves manure management in livestock operations through nitrogen recovery and understand barriers to adoption of sustainable technologies.

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Kernza is the grain of Intermediate wheatgrass and was bred to increase grain yield. While researchers are working on the basic agronomics of this crop, the decline in seed yield after the first production year has not yet been addressed. Favre is exploring best management practices to maintain Kernza seed yield.

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Dairy cows develop metabolic stress when transitioning from gestation to lactation, which can cause metabolic disease. Heat stress can also compromise health in early lactation dairy cattle. Metabolic and heat stress in cows causes at least $1.5 billion in yearly economic losses. Fontoura is defining nutritional therapies to improve the metabolic health and productivity of dairy cows at the onset of lactation and when exposed to heat stress.

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Composting recycles waste from landscapes, animals and food waste. Biochar is a product of recycling carbon-rich landscape waste. Hoglund studies the effects of compost and biochar on the water-holding capacity, nutrient availability and physical stability of dryland soils. This research aims to improve soil health, conserve irrigation water and improve agricultural productivity.

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The Monarch butterfly population is declining rapidly. Krueger is developing agricultural land management practices to improve the health of Monarch butterfly populations.

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Mathison is exploring how Adaptive Multi-paddock (AMP) grazing influences the health and wellbeing of farmers who adopt the practice

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The dairy cattle industry has widely adopted artificial insemination (AI), yet practical challenges have limited the use of AI in more extensively raised beef cattle systems. Mueller's research examines the potential for combining advanced breeding technologies, including AI, to improve the distribution of elite cattle genetics.

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Bacterial leaf streak in corn is an emerging disease in North and South America. Recently, the disease has began infecting sweet corn, popcorn and grain corn in the US and Argentina. Ortiz Castro is developing solutions to combat bacterial leaf streak in corn by understanding the ecology of the disease and creating an integrated management program.

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In 2014, black rot reemerged, threatening sweet potato production in North Carolina and other US states. Sweet Potatoes are not resistant to this disease in part because cultural practices have managed black rot since the 1950s and breeding for resistance in sweet potatoes is a slow process. Parada Rojas is developing back rot-resistant sweet potato varieties.

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Canary seed contains higher protein content than other commonly used cereals. This grain was approved for human consumption by the USDA and Health Canada in 2016 and is a potential plant-based protein source. Perera is exploring processing techniques to expand the uses of canary seed.

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Fusarium Head Blight (FHB), also known as head scab, is a devastating crop disease that reduces the yield potential in wheat and barley. Singh is examining the mechanism behind Fusarium Head Blight resistance in wheat and developing management practices to help mitigate this disease.

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Uncontrolled inflammation in dairy cows is associated with infectious and metabolic diseases. Strickland explores how micronutrients, like vitamin A and E, affects inflammation and immune function. This research aims to investigate the use of supplements to prevent disease, decrease antibiotic use and improve cow welfare.

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Increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the last few decades mean that the carbon dioxide concentration inside plants cells is now higher than is needed to achieve maximum rates of photosynthesis. By focusing on a plants’ photosynthetic abilities, Xie is increasing drought tolerance in plants through methods that do not decrease productivity.

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