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Media contact: Sally Gifford, 202-720-2047
WASHINGTON,
D.C. June 7, 2017 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National
Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today 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.
“America's
agricultural systems are constantly exposed to biological and environmental
threats,” said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. “These NIFA investments in
user-inspired projects bring together researchers, extension experts, and
practitioners to find solutions that can be rapidly adopted by the agricultural
community.”
The
Agriculture and Food Research Initiative 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 area
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.
Fiscal year
2016 grants include:
- Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, $294,000
- Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, $264,600
- Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, $298,276
- Mississippi State University, Mississippi State,
Mississippi, $298,122
- Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, $300,000
- Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, $300,000
- Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, $299,692
- Sitting Bull College, Fort Yates, North Dakota, $299,987
- Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, $296,614
- Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, $299,404
- South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota,
$300,000
- Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, $294,000
- Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, $224,341
- Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, $177,964
- Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, $294,000
- University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, $299,992
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,
Blacksburg, Virginia, $294,000
Among these FY16 projects, a grant was awarded
to Sitting Bull College in North Dakota, supporting critical research at a 1994 land-grant
institution, a first for the AFRI CARE grant program.
U.S. bison consumption is outpacing production, due to the animal’s low growth
and reproductive rates. This project will reveal the genetic make-up and
improve nutritional management of bison herds to address these challenges.
New 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. An award to
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University will identify
drought-resistant peanut cultivars to help peanut growers in Virginia and North
Carolina. An award to Oregon State University will improve management of potato
early dying disease in the Pacific Northwest, a region that represents 57 percent of U.S. potato production.
More information on these projects is
available on the NIFA
website.
Past AFRI CARE projects include a Kansas State University project to
develop interactive online decision-guiding tools to give beef cattle producers
more access to current research and expert knowledge. The University of Georgia is
investigating the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of grass-fed beef. A University of California-Riverside
project is developing an early-warning system to better prevent and control
avian influenza, a highly infectious pathogen and a critical problem
confronting the U.S. poultry industry.
NIFA invests in and advances agricultural
research, education, and extension and promotes transformative discoveries that
solve societal challenges. NIFA's integrated research, education, and extension
programs support the best and brightest scientists and extension personnel
whose work results in user-inspired, groundbreaking discoveries that combat
childhood obesity, improve and sustain rural economic growth, address water
availability issues, increase food production, find new sources of energy,
mitigate climate variability, and ensure food safety. To learn more about NIFA’s impact on agricultural science, visit www.nifa.usda.gov/impacts, sign up for email updates or follow us on Twitter @USDA_NIFA, #NIFAimpacts.
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