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June 7, 2017

Success Story

New Way to Detect Palmer Amaranth in Contaminated Seedlots

Last summer, farmers in the Midwest got an unwelcome surprise after planting native seed on Conservation Reserve Program acres. Palmer amaranth is an aggressive and hard-to-kill weed. As a possible solution, some states declared Palmer a noxious weed, which prohibits its sale and transport.

The typical testing method involves growing a sample of seeds until the plants are large enough to be identified, but this is a slow and potentially unreliable process. Pat Tranel, molecular weed scientist at the University of Illinois, said growers are calling and telling him, their businesses are up in the air because of this." Unless they have a way to certify their product is Palmer-free, they can't sell it," said Tranel. There is a company that tests individual seeds using DNA sequencing, but charges $100 per seed.

Tranel and graduate student Brent Murphy developed a way around these issues. Their low-cost method can identify Palmer amaranth DNA from within a mixed sample without having to grow the plants. 

Once they developed the assay, they asked the University of Illinois Extension’s Plant Clinic to optimize the test for mixed seed samples. Diagnostic outreach Extension specialist Diane Plewa and Plant Clinic technician Elizabeth Phillippi began trying different methods to extract DNA from seed. The Plant Clinic has developed a protocol for commercial testing of seedlots and is now offering the service for $50 per sample. Visit the Plant Clinic website for more information.

A quantitative assay for Amaranthus palmeri identification was published in the June 2017 issue of Pest Management Science. The work was supported by a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch grant.

NIFA News

Second Lady Karen Pence, Secretary Perdue Unveil Beehive at Vice President's Residence, and Ask Public to Help Boost Pollinator Population  Second Lady Karen Pence and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue today unveiled a newly-installed beehive on the grounds of the Vice President’s residence, drawing attention to the plight of pollinators whose numbers are in decline. Together, the two urged Americans to do their own part to help reverse the population trend among the creatures, which are essential to producing much of the nation’s food. Perdue released a proclamation he has signed declaring June 19-25, 2017 as “National Pollinator Week.”  Perdue noted that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency led efforts to create a National Pollinator Health Strategy. The two agencies are working with a number of other federal departments to implement that strategy, which includes significant USDA research. Read the full release on White House website.  NIFA's Infographic on pollinators was featured on the White House website and was also retweeted by the Second Lady Karen Pence.

NIFA RFA Modification Alert: AFRI Request for Applications Package

This is an important and urgent notification that application packages for the following three funding opportunities within Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) have been modified in Grants.gov.

1.  AFRI - Foundational Program

• Funding Opportunity #: USDA-NIFA-AFRI-006351

For Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health, programs include:

• Improving Food Safety
• Improving Food Quality
• Understanding Antimicrobial Resistance
• Food Manufacturing Technologies
• Function and Efficacy of Nutrients
  

2.  AFRI - Resilient Agroecosystems in a Changing Climate Challenge Area

• Funding Opportunity #: USDA-NIFA-AFRI-006353

3.   AFRI  - Water for Food Production Systems Challenge Area

• Funding Opportunity #: USDA-NIFA-AFRI-006304

Application packages for other funding opportunities have NOT been modified.

If you downloaded the application package for any of these 3 funding opportunities from Grants.gov before May 22, you MUST download and use the new application package. Submission of applications to these 3 funding opportunities using an application package downloaded before May 22 will generate an error message (“OPP_EXIST_ERROR FATAL”), preventing successful submission.

Please inform your sponsored programs office of this important issue.

National Monitoring Plan for Native Bees  NIFA has scheduled a public listening session to "...discuss a strategy to monitor native bees in the United States..." The session will address: Why a national monitoring plan for native bees is important; What kind of information/data are needed; and How would the information be used..." Public Notice was published in the June 5 Federal Register. The Pollinator Health Working Group and NIFA are co-hosting the session scheduled for Wed., June 28, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT. Anyone interested may submit written comments to Andrew Clark by July 6. The meeting will be in the South Building Café Conference Center A-C, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC. If you wish to attend the event, you must RSVP no later than June 14 to Andrew Clark. In-person attendance is limited to the first 100 registered individuals. A few days before the event, NIFA’s website will include details about the webinar.

Reminder: 2017 Nominations for Knapp Lectureship Each year, NIFA joins with the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) to sponsor a lecture presented at the APLU Annual Meeting. The lecture honors one of the three most important historical figures of the Land-Grant University System, William Henry Hatch for research, Seaman A. Knapp for extension, and Justin Smith Morrill for whom the Morrill Act, which created the Land-Grant University System, is named.   NIFA and APLU are seeking nominations to honor Seaman A. Knapp, the father of the Cooperative Extension concept. They are seeking an insightful topic and a dynamic speaker who can provoke discussion among meeting participants and prepare a formal lecture to be presented at the APLU meeting in Washington, DC, Nov. 12-14. While we seek recommendations from those within the Land-Grant University System, we encourage the nominations of colleagues outside of the research, education, and extension system, including stakeholders, foundations, public interest groups, or international organizations.  Recommendations should include the nominee name, title, address, telephone number, email address, and discussion topic. Submit nominations and topics electronically to Kimberly Whittet on or before June 30. A committee will review submissions and narrow the scope of recommendations to make a final decision.

Where Do I Find Back Issues of the NIFA Update? The NIFA Update is now online. All back issues are included for this year and 2016. The page also includes a link to subscribe to NIFA Update. Submit articles for the NIFA Update or any questions, to: NIFAUpdate@nifa.usda.gov.   Don't forget that if you would like to submit an article with photographs or graphics, send them to NIFAUpdate@nifa.usda.gov

Grants & RFA Announcements

USDA Announces $6 Million for Sustainable Energy Research

NIFA announced up to $6 million in available funding for research to support the next generation of sustainable biofuels and biomaterials. Funding is made through USDA’s Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI), a joint initiative with the Department of Energy.

The Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI) supports the development of sustainable biofuels and biobased products, helping to create jobs, new market opportunities, and rural prosperity by diversifying the nation’s energy choices. Projects may focus on feedstock development, biofuels and biobased products development, and biofuels development analysis.

The application process will include two phases: a concept paper phase and a full application phase. The concept paper deadline is July 7, 2017. The full application deadline is Sept. 22, 2017. 

USDA Awards $4.8 Million to Support Critical Agricultural Research and Extension Projects

NIFA announced $4.8 million to support 17 research and extension grants that address critically important problems in U.S. agriculture. The funding is made possible through NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program, authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.

The AFRI is America’s flagship competitive grants program for foundational and translational research, education, and extension projects in the food and agricultural sciences. The AFRI program is Critical Agricultural Research and Extension (CARE) seeks to address critical challenges and opportunities to improve the nation’s agricultural and food systems. Projects offer solutions to address local, regional, or national problems.

This year, the National Peanut Board and the Washington State Potato Commission each co-funded a grant with NIFA, made possible by the Commodity Board provision in the 2014 Farm Bill. 

NIFA invests in and advances agricultural research, education, and extension and promotes transformative discoveries that solve societal challenges.

The NIFA Update is a weekly compendium of news and information that may be of interest to Land-Grant and non-Land-Grant Universities, NIFA stakeholders, and other subscribers. 

Judy Rude, Editor 

If you wish to submit a news item or information, send to NIFAUpdate@nifa.usda.gov