Grants Allocated to Tackle Changing Climate in Fruit, Vegetable Production
July 25, 2017 USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) recently announced nine grants totaling more than $8 million were awarded to study and develop new approaches for the agriculture sector to adapt to and mitigate the effects of changing environmental conditions. The funding is made possible through NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program, authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.
“We have to develop robust plants, animals, and management systems that can flourish under challenging environmental conditions,” said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. “We expect the outcomes of these investments will support American farmers and producers, and ensure their profitability.”
Among the grants, a University of Florida project will identify and test climate adaptation and mitigation in fruit and vegetable supply chains using a holistic, systems approach based on crop, economic, and environmental modeling.
AFRI is America’s flagship competitive grants program for foundational and translational research, education, and Extension projects in the food and agricultural sciences. The Agriculture and Natural Resources Science for Climate Variability and Change Challenge Area aims to provide risk management information and tools to enable land managers to stay viable and productive and reduce the use of energy, nitrogen, water, and greenhouse gas emissions.
FY16 grants being announced by state, include:
Climate Outreach and Extension:
- University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, $250,000
- New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, $249,900
- Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, $250,000
- University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, $248,900
Climate and Land Use:
- University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, $3,414,911
- University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, $3,414,911
- Clemson University, Clemson, SC, $147,744
- George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, $35,300
- Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA, $49,260
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