NIFA announces $70M for projects to enhance sustainable agricultural systems 

The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has announced an investment of $70 million in sustainable agricultural projects that integrate research, education and extension efforts.

The goal is to establish robust, resilient and climate-smart food and agricultural systems, the USDA said in a news release.

This investment is made under NIFA’s Sustainable Agricultural Systems program, which is part of NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, designed to improve plant and animal production and sustainability, and human and environmental health, according to the release.

AFRI is the nation’s leading and largest competitive grants program for agricultural sciences, the release said, with grants available to eligible colleges, universities and other research organizations. 

“These research investments will help transform the U.S. food and agricultural system to increase production in sustainable ways as the United Nations projects a world population of 9.8 billion by 2050,” Acting NIFA Director Dionne Toombs said in the release. “These visionary projects will improve the supply of affordable, safe, nutritious and accessible agricultural products, while fostering economic development and rural prosperity in America.” 
 
Examples of the seven projects newly funded under NIFA’s AFRI Sustainable Agricultural Systems program area include the following: 

• Auburn University will receive a $9.95 million grant to transform controlled environment agriculture — a rapidly expanding segment of U.S. agriculture that includes producing food crops in greenhouses and indoor spaces, with great promise for producing the food needed while reducing carbon emissions. This project will reduce the demand for heating and cooling in CEA food-production environments, improve the overall efficiency of CEA climate-controlled environments, lower the carbon intensity of resource inputs, and shift consumer and producer behavior surrounding CEA products and practices. Currently, CEA is valued at $74 billion and is expected to grow at about 10% annually.  
• Michigan State University will receive a $10 million grant to assess the effects of historical and projected shocks to the nation’s agri-food system and develop alternative mitigation and adaptation strategies. This includes the development of an artificial intelligence-enabled decision support system to enable stakeholders to better prepare for and rapidly respond to multiple shocks to safeguard food access, food equity and nutrition security as well as productivity. The goal of this project is to build local and regional food systems that are resilient to multiple shocks, such as pandemics, climate change and foodborne pathogens.
• University of Missouri will receive a $10 million grant to address USDA-NIFA Sustainable Agriculture Systems goals on climate-smart agriculture along with strengthening regional bioeconomies in rural areas. This project involves a diverse team of 34 collaborators from 17 states. The project will train farmers to produce cover crop seed and be a catalyst to further adopt cover crops as a climate-smart practice, helping farmers adapt to climate change. Through transdisciplinary research, extension and education activities, the project will develop a comprehensive national program on cover crop varietal improvement, leading to increased use of regionally adapted varieties.