NIFA News
NIFA Staff Meets with Mexico's Secretariat of Agriculture
Mexico's Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries, and Food (SAGARPA) visits NIFA Nov. 27, to better understand how cooperative extension works in the U.S. and how Mexico can collaborate with NIFA and land-grant universities.
Pictured from left to right: Cristina Ciranda, International Programs intern: Erica Summer, Foreign Agricultural Service: Mariana Lira, Agricultural Attaché, U.S. Mexican Embassy: Adriana Otero, Foreign Agricultural Service, México; Sonny Ramaswamy, NIFA Director; Mely Romero Celis, Under Secretary for Rural Development, SAGARPA; Otto Gonzalez, Director, NIFA Center for International Programs (CIP), Teresa Saavedra, Advisor for the Under Secretary of Rural Development; Michael McGirr, national program leader, CIP; Luis Martinez, Agricultural Counselor, U.S. Mexican Embassy. NIFA photo.
News for You
Oklahoma State University Named 2017 C. Peter Magrath
Community Engagement Scholarship Award Winner
The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities named
Oklahoma State University (OSU) the winner of the 2017 C. Peter Magrath
Community Engagement Scholarship Award at its annual meeting in Washington, DC. The award recognizes programs that demonstrate how colleges and universities have redesigned their learning, discovery, and engagement missions to become even more involved with their communities. The national award is named for C. Peter Magrath, APLU president from 1992 to 2005.
OSU's Solutions-based Health Innovations and Nutrition
Excellence (SHINE) was created in 2006 as a collaboration between OSU and the Chickasaw Nation, a local Native American tribe. The
Chickasaw Nation partnered with OSU to study nutrition and public health issues
identified by Chickasaw citizens, combining cultural, historical, and
programming knowledge with nutrition and public health expertise. The
collaboration has developed a wide-ranging, nationally recognized model of
public health collaboration between a university and a Native American nation.
The team developed the Eagle Adventure program for children in the first
through third grades. The program embraces the traditions of Native American
storytelling to educate participants on practices that prevent type 2 diabetes
through dietary and physical activity. Read
the full OSU award article.
Photo provided by OSU.
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Earth and
Environmental Sciences Professor Meets Former Vice-President
You know your work is making an impact when world leaders
come calling. Michigan State University (MSU) Foundation Professor and Earth
and Environmental Sciences Faculty member Dr. Bruno Basso recently received
such a call from former Vice President Al Gore. Basso was invited to sit down
for a one-on-one meeting Nov. 14, with the renowned environmentalist and 2007 Nobel
Peace prize winner in San Francisco, California.
Basso developed a new method that integrates remote sensing imagery of crops with simulation models to examine why crop yields vary over space and time. This method quantifies water, carbon and nutrient fluxes within a farmer’s field, and across fields in the US and globally. The data is used to pinpoint the exact amount and placement of fertilizer and water necessary to produce and sustain healthy crop yields.
Basso said Gore took a keen interest in the science behind the technology Read the full MSU article.
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Be Counted: Census
is Your Voice, Future, Opportunity
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue explains why every U.S. farmer and
rancher needs to be counted in the upcoming census of agriculture. Watch
the Ag Census video.
RFA Grant and Award Announcements
NIFA Funds Food Safety and Nutrition to Promote
Safe Food Supply
NIFA announced support for research, education, and extension projects that
promote a safe, nutritious food supply. The funding is made possible through
NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program, authorized by
the 2014 Farm Bill.
AFRI is America’s flagship competitive grants program for foundational and
translational research, education, and extension projects in the food and
agricultural sciences. These awards were made through two grant programs: AFRI
Foundational: Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health, and the AFRI
Food Safety Challenge Area. These investments seek to increase our
understanding of the microbial, chemical, and physical safety and quality of
foods, as well as protect consumers from contaminants at every stage of the
food chain, from production to consumption. Read
the full AFRI award announcement.
NIFA Announces Support for Education, Mentoring,
and Technical Assistance Programs to Help New Farmers and Ranchers
NIFA announced $17.7 million in available funding to support the delivery of
education, mentoring, and technical assistance programs that help beginning
farmers and ranchers in the U.S. and its territories. Funding is made through
NIFA’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP), authorized
by the 2014 Farm Bill. BFRDP targets
farmers and ranchers who have never operated a farm or ranch, or have not
operated a farm or ranch for more than 10 years. Read
the full BFRDP announcement.
NIFA Awards
Funds to Support Sustainable Forest and Rangeland Programs
NIFA announced three grants to help promote sustainable management practices by
America's forest landowners and ranchers. The grants from NIFA’s Renewable
Resources Extension Act – National Focus Fund Projects (RREA-NFF) support
regional and national projects that address emerging issues through innovative
projects that can be replicated in other regions.
“These awards further our commitment to enhance the sustainability of the
nation’s privately-owned forest and rangeland resources,” said NIFA Director
Sonny Ramaswamy. “Through these innovative projects delivered by extension
educators and specialists, landowners and managers will be able to make better
informed, science-based decisions about their lands in order to achieve their
conservation and economic goals." Read
the full RREA-NFF award announcement.
NIFA Helps Veterans Learn Skills for Farming and Ranching Careers
NIFA announced a new grant opportunity to help military
veterans pursue farming and ranching careers. Funding is made through NIFA’s
Enhancing Agricultural Opportunities for Military Veterans Competitive Grants
Program (AgVets). AgVets seeks to increase the number of military veterans
gaining knowledge and skills through comprehensive, hands-on, and immersive
model farm and ranch programs offered regionally that lead to successful
careers in the food and agricultural sector. Read
the full AgVets announcement.
NIFA Awards Funds
to Support Rural Veterinary Services
NIFA announced 13 grants to support rural veterinary services and relieve
veterinarian shortages in parts of the U.S. and its insular areas. The funding
from NIFA’s Veterinary Services Grant Program (VSGP) is authorized by the 2014
Farm Bill.
NIFA’s Veterinary
Services Grant Program supports two funding categories: education, extension, and training projects are open to state, national, or regional
organizations and institutions of veterinary medicine recognized by the
American Veterinary Medical Association, and Rural Practice Enhancement projects
are open to for-profit or non-profit organizations and practices that wish to
operate veterinary clinical services in designated rural veterinarian shortage
areas. Read
the full VSGP award announcement.
NIFA’s mission is to invest in and advance agricultural research, education, and extension to solve societal challenges. NIFA’s investments in transformative science directly support the long-term prosperity and global preeminence of U.S. agriculture.
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