Washington,
D.C., Dec. 1, 2014 – As dozens of
agricultural research advocates gather in Washington this week to discuss the
need for more focus on research funding, USDA’s National Institute of Food and
Agriculture (NIFA) says it will provide more than $6.5 million in grants to
improve plant health, production, and products.
The
biggest winner? The Ohio State University, in Wooster, Ohio, won two separate
grants totaling $500,000 each. Some of the projects funded will address issues
concerning zebra chip disease in potatoes, improving soybean productivity, and
controlling diseases affecting tomato health and fruit quality.
The
grants were funded through the Agriculture and Food
Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program (AFRI).
“As
the world’s population increases, plants play a vital role in the success of
the national and global economy,” said Sonny Ramaswamy, NIFA director. “It is
imperative that we study plant breeding and nutrient utilization in order to
have a safe and secure food supply in the future.”
The
announcement comes after a National Research Council Committee released a critical
review of the AFRI program earlier this year and concluded that NIFA should
give fundamental research a top priority.
“Public
investment in agricultural research gains in the United States have trended
downward over the last 20 years. Public investment in agricultural research has
declined relative to other sectors of U.S. science and technology and relative
to agricultural research investments of other nations,” the authors wrote.
So
while today’s announcement is helpful for those interesting in reversing recent
trends, research advocates say there is still a tremendous amount of work to be
done.
“Waning
public investments in U.S. agricultural R&D will probably slow innovation
and slow the growth of the knowledge base necessary to meet the ever-evolving
challenges presented by increasingly competitive global markets, increasingly
scarce natural resources, growing environmental issues, and expanding demands
for healthy, safe, and accessible food for consumers in the United States and
other countries,” the NRC authors wrote.
The
awards were made under the AFRI Foundational Program priority areas of plant
breeding for agricultural production, as well as photosynthetic efficiency and
nutrient utilization in agricultural plants.
The
funded plant breeding projects focus on improving crop yield, efficiency,
quality, and adaptation to diverse agricultural systems, according to USDA. Photosynthetic
and nutrient utilization projects focus on increasing plant productivity and
improving nutrient uptake, assimilation, accumulation, and utilization.
Fiscal
Year 2014 plant
breeding awards include:
University
of Florida, Gainesville, Fla., $500,000
University
of Idaho, Moscow, Id., $494,000
Agricultural
Research Service, Peoria, Ill., $500,000
Rutgers
University, New Brunswick, N.J., $500,000
Cornell
University, Ithaca, N.Y., $33,000
Ohio
State University, Wooster, Ohio, two separate grants, $500,000 each
Organic
Seed Alliance, Port Townsend, Wash., $33,000
University
of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisc., $500,000
Fiscal
Year 2014 photosynthetic
and nutrient utilization awards include:
University
of California, Davis, Calif., $25,000
University
of Florida, Gainesville, Fla., $499,991
Iowa
State University, Ames, Iowa, $499,991
University
of New Hampshire, Durham, N.H., $493,460
Rutgers
University, New Brunswick, N.J., $20,325
University
of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N.M., $15,000
Cornell
University, Ithaca, N.Y., $22,000
Brigham
Young University, Provo, Utah, $482,914
University
of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisc., $499,974
Agricultural
Research Service, Peoria, Ill., $499,099
Overall,
AFRI supports work in six priority areas: plant health and production and plant
products; animal health and production and animal products; food safety,
nutrition and health; renewable energy, natural resources and environment;
agriculture systems and technology; and agriculture economics and rural
communities.
For
more information: www.nifa.usda.gov.
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