USDA's ReConnect Program Aims to Bring Broadband to All Rural Americans
USDA's ReConnect program is working to bring broadband internet connectivity to all corners of the country. USDA’s Stephanie Ho talks with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue about brining internet to rural America. Listen to the USDA broadcast.
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NIFA Funds Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates in West Tennessee
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded nearly $400,000 to provide experiential learning opportunities at University of Tennessee AgResearch and Education Centers in West Tennessee. The Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates (REEU) grant will offer agricultural workforce development, as well as research and extension training to prepare students to fill expected gaps in the country’s food, agriculture and related industries.
The University of Tennessee (UT) is one of 26 institutions that received a REEU grant. The focus of UT’s summer internship program will be integrated pest management (IPM), an environmentally sensitive approach to pest management. Interns will work directly in IPM programs across all eight research disciplines represented at the West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center. For more information, read the UT news article.
Student interns view examples of cotton seedling disease at the West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center. Photo courtesy of G. Rowsey, UTIA.
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Central State University Accepting Scholarship Applications for Ohio Students Majoring in Agriculture and Related Fields
Thanks to USDA-NIFA, Central State University, recently received $2.2 million in scholarships for Ohio students who choose to major in agriculture and related fields at Central State University. Funds for the scholarship came from the $14 million awarded to the nineteen 1890 Land-Grant Universities in the United States as a result of the 2018 Farm Bill. For more information, watch the Central State University slide presentation.
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Supporting Veterans and Responding to Farm Stress
Farmers and ranchers across the country continue to struggle amidst the current farm crisis. Plummeting farm incomes, market instability, extreme weather patterns, and a thin disaster safety net have pushed many to bankruptcy, foreclosure, and even suicide. Many of these challenges are made worse for our nation’s military veterans, who have looked to a career in agriculture to continue serving their country.
The USDA recently announced the availability of $20 million in grant funds to help support our nation’s farmers through these unprecedented times. Federal grants will be awarded to support farmer mental health and training for military veterans through two competitive programs administered by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. For more information, read the Morning Ag Clips article.
Veterans participate in a SAVE Farm training. Photo courtesy of SAVE Farm.
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NIFA Invests $8 Million to Protect our Nation’s Food Supply
NIFA recently awarded 19 Food Safety and Defense grants to develop tools to detect allergens, infections or other contaminants in foods. NIFA support enables scientists to develop new and innovative technologies for food processing, manufacturing, and packaging that ensure a safe and abundant food supply. These grants are part of NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI).
NIFA Invests $5 Million in Agricultural Production Systems Research
NIFA recently announced 11 Agricultural Production Systems Research grants that will lead to the development of innovative sustainable solutions to problems limiting or threatening the productivity, efficiency, and profitability of agricultural production systems. The research will help address critical or process-limiting dynamics that occur among and within the various management components of these systems. These grants are a part of NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative.
NIFA Invests $4.6 Million in Tactical Sciences Coordination Network to Safeguard Plant and Animal Health
NIFA recently announced seven coordination network awards that will help protect the integrity, reliability, and sustainability of the U.S. food and agriculture system from an array of known and potential threats, including pests and diseases that impact plants and animals. The Tactical Sciences Coordination Network will bring together public and private sector entities at the regional and national level, to jointly plan and implement efforts to narrow existing gaps in food and agricultural defenses, increase national capacity to prevent, and rapidly detect and respond to biological threats to the U.S. food supply.
 Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship (NNF) Grants Program
The Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship grant program supports training students for master's and doctoral degrees in food, agricultural and natural resource sciences; and Special International Study or Thesis/Dissertation Research Travel Allowances for eligible USDA NNF beneficiaries. Awards are specifically intended to support traineeship programs that engage outstanding students to pursue and complete their degrees in USDA mission areas. Applicants provide clarity about the philosophy of their graduate training, and relevance to USDA mission sciences, NIFA priorities, and national science education policies and statistics. Applications are being solicited from institutions that confer a graduate degree in at least one of the following Targeted Expertise Shortage Areas:
- Animal and plant production
- Forest resources
- Agricultural educators and communicators
- Agricultural management and economics
- Food science and human nutrition
- Sciences for agricultural biosecurity
- Training in integrative biosciences for sustainable food and agricultural systems.
For more information, read the Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship funding opportunity.
 Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
Higher Education Multicultural Scholars Program (MSP)
The Higher Education Multicultural Scholars Program is a competitive undergraduate scholarship grant program that increases the multicultural diversity of the food and agricultural scientific and professional workforce. The program also advances the educational achievement of all Americans by providing competitive grants to colleges and universities. For more information, read the MSP funding opportunity.
 Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
Plant Biotic Interactions Program PBI
The Plant Biotic Interactions (PBI) program supports research on processes that mediate beneficial and antagonistic interactions between plants and their viral, bacterial, oomycete, fungal, plant, and invertebrate symbionts, pathogens and pests. This joint National Science Foundation (NSF) - NIFA program supports projects focused on current and emerging model and non-model systems and agriculturally relevant plants. For more information, read the PBI funding opportunity.
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