Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR)

Quite simply, happy first day of spring! From our staff to you. We're looking forward to this growing season.

One week left to submit applications! The long-term success of plant-based and fermentation-enabled protein foods depends not only on sustainability and cost but also on their ability to deliver a compelling eating experience. By advancing research in ingredient design, enrichment methods and formulation strategies, we can accelerate progress toward high-protein foods that meet or exceed consumer sensory expectations. To drive this innovation, we're partnering with the to provide $400-$500k on proposed projects. Applications are due next Wednesday, March 25, 2026. bit.ly/4sSvRDM

Here's where you can find the compiled results: bit.ly/4uw8rp8

Knowledge for what's working, what's not and what could be a tool that works for their particular field, is the power farmers need to make informed decisions for themselves with regard to economic and ecological livelihood. That's where science comes in. Partnering with @PepsiCo , we've funded some on-going, farmer-driven research trials led by the @PracticalFarmersofIowa, to assess how a reduction of nitrogen fertilizer applications paired with other soil health practices like cover cropping and no-till, impacts yields/profits. This article highlights that in 2023, 19 of the 22 farms participating across Iowa and Wisconsin saved money overall on their participating plots. Practical Farmers of Iowa sum it up well on their flier for why is this important... "If we can reduce our reliance on N fertilizer… • We can improve water quality. • We can improve agriculture’s carbon footprint. • We can improve our farms’ bottom lines." bit.ly/4bdVaKq

Crop diseases like citrus greening that cause billions of dollars in crop damage annually come from Candidatus Liberibacter spp. which are ‘uncultured’ pathogens, meaning they cannot be reproduced in a laboratory setting... Until now... New Innovator Awardee Dr. Kranthi Mandadi led @txextension researchers to successfully culture and replicate these pathogens using hairy root systems. This breakthrough enables researchers to more efficiently develop solutions to diseases like citrus greening, with a ready supply of pathogens in a laboratory setting. Now growers facing problems with Candidatus Liberibacter spp. can work with researchers to develop disease management strategies, preventing crop and economic losses. Highlights from an external evaluation of our crops portfolio: - 1 approved patent for novel treatment and prevention methods - 1 commercialized innovation

Growing together. Krysta Harden, CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, and member of our Board of Director's shares her insights on the role of research partnerships and higher education in strengthening the U.S. dairy sector and preparing the next generation of ag leaders. @USDairyExporter @AgIsAmerica bit.ly/4bHdbRq

Find the request for proposals and webinar registration here: bit.ly/3NtXOTe New Innovators Award page: bit.ly/4lknwGc Vet student research fellowship program: bit.ly/4dh17rf Open Market Consortium: bit.ly/4b4NiLl

We're looking for evaluators! Three of our research programs have reached maturity and are ready for a summative evaluation to measure their effectiveness. “It is important to know who our programs are benefitting and how research is delivering results for farmers, consumers and others in the value chain.” – Saharah Moon Chapotin, Executive Director These are the programs and max budget: Veterinary Student Research Fellowship - $90k New Innovator in Food & Agriculture Research Award - $225k Open Market Consortium - $125k Each program evaluation has a distinct scope, timeline and budget, but will follow a consistent evaluation framework and deliverable expectations. Contractors may submit a proposal for one, multiple or all evaluations listed. We encourage teams to apply for more than one evaluation if capacity, expertise and staffing allow, and we reserve the right to award contracts separately or jointly. There is an informational webinar to answer questions about this RFP on Wednesday March 18, at 1pm ET. Registration is required. Spread the word, proposals are due Wednesday April 8, 2026!

Listen in! Our very own Dr. Miriam Martin LeValley chats with Drs. Megan Niederwerder and Lisa Becton of @swine_health about the current status of the research program we launched with them and @PorkCheckoff in 2024 to study the response, preparedness and risk to bird flu within the swine industry. Bird flu, or H5N1 was identified as a priority for the U.S. pork industry. This is rapidly evolving research to meet the rapidly evolving disease. Stay up to date on it here. bit.ly/4s9v29I

It's accounting season! Time to balance the books on soil health... @FFARFellows Tayin Wang of @ColoradoStateU tells us a story of two wheat fields with different practices of soil health. Although they may both produce grain, the story they're telling below the surface has much more to say about the past and future of our food systems. "Much like a banking system, SOM exists in both fast-cycling “checking” accounts – composed of partially decomposed plant and animal residues – and long-term “savings” accounts, where organic matter binds to minerals and persists over extended timescales." The link below has all the ins and outs of understanding soil carbon, it's relationship to other soil life, and the dynamics that play into the formation of soil organic matter. bit.ly/4bfxHaE

Novel Solutions Protecting East Coast Wine The mid-Atlantic region of Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina has a booming wine industry, worth upwards of $16 billion. But due to the region’s hot, humid growing season, the vines are more susceptible to fungal diseases like ripe rot. Since much of viticulture research is conducted in drier, more well-known regions, mid-Atlantic growers were left unsure of causes, treatments and prevention. researchers led by New Innovator Awardee, Dr. Mengjun Hu, identified the pathogen causing ripe rot and developed management practices and a public disease model that accounts for weather patterns, leaf wetness and overall crop infection susceptibility. Now mid-Atlantic vineyard managers are equipped with the knowledge to act in the right way, at the right time. Highlights of this project's results from an external evaluation of our crops portfolio: $7M in producer benefits already realized $37M in benefits projected within the decade. This project was one of 17 grants in our crops portfolio that were evaluated in 2025 for how they deliver commercial solutions. On top of the 24 commercial solutions like this one generated, of our initial investment of $9.9M, an additional $23.6M were raised, bringing our public dollar ROI ratio to 1:2.4

@UNLincoln bit.ly/3MHCyZZ

Help us in congratulating Dr. James C Schnable for being awarded the 2026 Prize in Food & Ag sciences! Schnable's genetics research at @UNLincoln has been instrumental in improving the productivity of crops like corn and sorghum and providing farmers with real-time insights into crop performance. The prize recognizes mid-career scientists whose research has made extraordinary contributions, fundamental to agriculture. “I grew up working in cornfields, seeing what it takes to move discoveries from idea to experimental results to commercial products and services, as well as the vast impact new technologies and discoveries can have for crop breeders and farmers.” - Dr. James C Schnable

On the march against New World Screwworm! Last week, our Scientific Program Directors Jasmine Bruno and Kathy Munkvold and Director of Strategic Partnerships Lauren Hershey joined two workshops held at The , co-hosted with Fontagro, on “Managing Transboundary Sanitary Risks in the Americas.” The first workshop centered around New World Screwworm, a pest with serious implications for the U.S. beef industry and with human health concerns. Researchers from Latin American countries presented on the state of the pest in their respective countries, and workshop attendees developed a plan for coordination between North and South America. Threats like New World Screwworm are a case-study in the importance of collaborative research between different countries' research programs, as well as between academia and industry, to safeguard our nation's food supply. We're on it!

Turning ideas into commercial innovations, ready for producers to utilize. We recently had various grants in our crop portfolio independently evaluated to measure its effectiveness in developing commercially scalable innovations. The 17 grants evaluated in this portfolio delivered 24 innovations. Over half of the projects’ innovations are already commercially adopted, with 1 of the 6 submitted patents already approved. Industry’s interest in these marketable solutions was enough for the grantees to take $9.9M in FFAR grants and leverage an additional $23.6M, bringing the total match ratio our funds to 1:2.4. Stay tuned as we'll be highlighting some of these innovations in the coming weeks!

Defending American cotton and cotton farmers... In 2018-2019, an unknown virus was emerging in US cotton crops from overseas. By early 2020, it was identified, showing to have detrimental effects AND a huge variance in symptoms. With the collaboration of @CottonInc , we awarded @AuburnAg Dr. Jenny Koebernick with a Rapid Outcomes (ROAR) grant to assemble a crack squad of interdisciplinary experts from across the cotton world, and sketch out a research and funding plan to tackle it. Our external evaluation found that at 20% adoption of their findings, $2.4M was saved across the industry. More importantly, the well-oiled, cotton research machine of a team was already together to tackle any new threats to the industry, of which there is already another currently emerging with cotton jassid.bit.ly/4qS0Azm

@FFARFellows @michiganstateu Apply for FFAR Fellows Program: bit.ly/4rYU6zD

What happens when research projects (or any projects) scale, and simply scaling up the management methods doesn't seem to meet the need? An entire paradigm shift is needed... In this insightful essay, @FFARFellows Paiton McDonald of @michiganstateu, who is sponsored by @unitedanh, discusses how her professional development as a fellow came fully into focus when the research she was leading on dairy calf metabolism scaled up rapidly...and then doubled! bit.ly/4tIXiAS Applications for 2026-2029 FFAR Fellows are due February 22.

Part 2! Defending American cotton and cotton farmers... In 2018-2019, an unknown virus was emerging in US cotton crops from overseas. By early 2020, it's identified and showing to have detrimental effects AND a huge variance in symptoms. With the collaboration of @CottonInc, we awarded @AuburnAg Dr. Jenny Koebernick with a Rapid Outcomes (ROAR) grant to assemble a crack squad of interdisciplinary experts from across the cotton world, and sketch out a research and funding plan to tackle it. ROAR was the first step to set the research team in motion with initial trials until additional funding was secured. Our external evaluation found that at 20% adoption of their findings, $2.4M was saved across the industry. More importantly, the well-oiled, cotton research machine of a team was already together to tackle any new threats to the industry, of which there is already another currently emerging with cotton jassid. bit.ly/46d7isb