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USDA awards $11.5 million in ag research grants to universities

The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded 24 grants totaling $11.5 million to universities and organizations for research projects designed to help small and mid-sized farms increase profitability.

The grants are through their Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, the nation’s largest competitive grant program for ag science, for projects focused on alternative crop enterprises, marketing, and scaling up fruit and vegetable production to overcome marketing constraints.

The projects are aimed at helping small and medium sized farms increase competitiveness in local markets. Recipients include seven universities in the Midwest:

• Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana which was awarded nearly $500,000 for research on “Incentivizing Land Access for Small, Beginning and Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers: Research, Extension and Community of Practice”
• Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana which was awarded nearly $500,000 for research on “Taking the Next Step as a Small and Medium Sized Farm: Understanding the Integration of Production, Food Safety, and Profitability”
• University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota which was awarded $500,000 for research on “Building a Bidirectional Supply Chain for Farm to Rural Grocery to Wholesale (F2G2W)”
• University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri which was awarded nearly $500,000 for research on “Collective Entrepreneurship Research and Education for Socially-disadvantaged Small- and Medium-Food System Enterprises” and another $500,000 for a project “Nudging Landowners and Tenants toward Environmental and Social Stewardship”.
• The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio which was awarded nearly $430,000 for research on “Strategic and Operational Agenda to Promote Sustainable Growth in the Developing Pawpaw Value Chain”
• Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee which was awarded around $1.4 million nearly for three projects. “Enhancing opportunities for land access and transfer for Tennessee’s young and beginning farmers”, “Managing Breed Resources to Improve Productivity and Profitability in Meat Goats”, and “Establishing Animal Health and Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs to Maximize Profitability of Small-Scale Ruminant Production Systems”.
• University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin which was awarded nearly $475,000 for research on “The Relationship between Farm Size and Farmer Opportunities to Profit from Natural Resources on their Land”.