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Media Contact: Selina Meiners, (202)734-9376
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 17, 2017 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA)
National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced 17 grants for research on
the next generation of agricultural technologies and systems to meet the
growing demand for food, fuel, and fiber. The grants are funded through NIFA’s Agriculture
and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.
“Technology is front and center in agricultural production,”
said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. “NIFA is investing in research on precision
and smart technologies to maximize production efficiencies, including water and
fertilizer use, and to produce nutritious food, new biofuels, and bioproducts.”
AFRI is America’s flagship competitive grants program for
foundational and translational research, education, and extension projects in
the food and agricultural sciences. AFRI’s Agriculture
Systems and Technology grants support the design and engineering of
agricultural production systems and research on the burgeoning field of biomass,
biofuels, feedstock, bioenergy, and bio-based products. These projects are
expected to spur innovation in rural America and contribute to rural
prosperity.
Included among the grants announced today is a University of
California Riverside project that uses electronics and chemistry to recover
high-quality water, nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), and energy from
agricultural wastewater. Also, researchers at the University of Nebraska are
developing an efficient irrigation system that combines imaging sensors on
unmanned aerial vehicles, predictions of crop water use, and water sensors in
soil.
Fiscal Year 2016 grants totaling $7.3 million included:
Agricultural
Engineering
- University of
Kentucky Research Foundation, Lexington, Kentucky, $500,000
- University of
Kentucky Research Foundation, Lexington, Kentucky, $498,726
- Mississippi State
University, Mississippi State, Mississippi, $149,983
- North Carolina
State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, $499,998
- University of
Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, $499,978
- University of
Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, $499,916
- University of
Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, $499,896
- Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey, $50,000
- Washington State
University, Pullman, Washington, $312,238
Bioprocessing and
Bioengineering
- Auburn University,
Auburn University, Alabama, $481,539
- University of
California, Riverside, California, $480,843
- University of
Georgia, Athens, Georgia, $472,965
- Iowa State
University of Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa, $482,905
- Sustainable
Bioproducts LLC, Bozeman, Montana, $482,829
- The Ohio State
University, Columbus, Ohio, $482,448
- University of
North Texas, Denton, Texas, $482,905
- University of
Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, $482,752
Project details can be found at the NIFA website.
Previously funded projects include an Oregon State University project to develop
wireless sensors to study flight behavior of native pollinators associated with
agricultural crops. This project will shed light on bumble bees’ flight
patterns to help efforts to sustain their populations. Researchers at Iowa
State University are developing
a low-cost electronic sensor to monitor, in real-time, excess nitrate levels in
surface water that are a major environmental and health concern. This
technology may help landowners and governments in their conservation efforts by
circumventing the need to collect water samples for lab analysis.
NIFA invests in and
advances agricultural research, education, and extension and promotes
transformative discoveries that solve societal challenges. NIFA
support for the best and brightest scientists and extension personnel has
resulted 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.
USDA is an equal
opportunity lender, provider and employer.
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