California Ag Network

Tag: USDA-NIFA

  • USDA NIFA Launches Grants Opportunity to Combat Emerging Ag Threats

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announces the launch of a new competitive grants program aimed at rapidly addressing emerging and re-emerging pest and disease threats across the nation’s food and agricultural systems.

    The grants program, Rapid Response to Emerging and Re-emerging Pest and Disease Events Across Food and Agricultural Systems, is designed to deploy timely, science-based solutions to protect agricultural productivity, ecosystem health, and food security.

    “Invasive and emerging pests and diseases can devastate crops, livestock, and ecosystems, disrupt supply chains and threaten food security,” said NIFA Director Dr. Jaye Hamby. “This program empowers researchers and Extension professionals to act quickly, delivering practical solutions that safeguard our agricultural communities and the nation’s food supply.”

    This program is part of NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), designed to improve plant and animal production and sustainability, and human and environmental health. AFRI is the nation’s leading and largest competitive grants program for agricultural sciences. These grants are available to eligible colleges, universities, and other research organizations.   

    With a maximum award of $500,000 and a grant duration of 12 to 24 months, the program supports grants for research, Extension, or integrated projects. Applications are accepted on a continuous basis, within 180 days of a qualifying pest or disease event, ensuring swift mobilization of resources when threats arise.

    Applications must directly address the effects associated with the emergence or re-emergence within the last 180 days of pests and/or disease in animal and/or plant production systems or within the food supply, and one or more of the following emphasis areas: One Health, plant and animal health, and ecosystem health.

    Funded projects will focus on applied research and Extension and outreach activities that generate actionable knowledge and tools. These may include:

    • Rapid understanding of pest/pathogen ecology, epidemiology, and immunology.
    • Development and validation of diagnostics, vaccines, and control methods.
    • Communication strategies, training programs, and best practices for mitigation.
    • Technologies and protocols for detection, management, and prevention.

    To ensure impact, projects must implement or develop at least one deliverable within six months of award receipt, with all activities completed within the grant period. Proposals are encouraged to integrate biological and social sciences, engage public-private partnerships, and support small- and medium-sized farms and ranches.

    “This program reflects USDA’s commitment to proactive, science-driven responses to agricultural threats,” Hamby said. “By supporting rapid innovation and collaboration, we’re helping communities stay resilient in the face of evolving challenges.”

    The program also welcomes proposals that address ecosystem health, including strategies to mitigate the environmental impacts of pests and diseases affecting plants, animals, and pollinators. Projects that incorporate community development, youth development, and 4-H are also eligible, provided they align with the program’s emphasis areas.

    Applicants are encouraged to coordinate efforts across institutions and regions, and to contact program staff at afri-rapidresponse@usda.gov with questions regarding project fit. While this program is designed for short-term, rapid response efforts, longer-term projects may be better suited for other AFRI program area priorities such as Agricultural Biosecurity, Diseases of Agricultural Animals, or Food Safety and Defense.

    For more information, visit nifa.usda.gov or email afri-rapidresponse@usda.gov. — By the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

  • AI Tool to Help Farmers Measure Real-Time Crop Health from the Field

    Leaf Monitor, a new mobile tool backed by artificial intelligence and predictive modeling, could revolutionize how farmers monitor crops and make decisions by providing real-time nutrition and leaf trait information in the field.

    “Having this information is very valuable for the farmers,” said Alireza Pourreza, associate professor of Cooperative Extension and director of the Digital Agriculture Laboratory in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the University of California, Davis. “In five seconds, they can have a sense of how much nutrition they have in a leaf.”

    Development of the AI model was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s HiRes Vineyard Nutrition multistate project and its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, as well as the California Table Grape Commission.

    Maha Afifi, director of viticulture research at the California Table Grape Commission, said the tool could be a game changer for the table grape industry if it leads to faster decision-making about fertilizer use. The right amount typically leads to healthier vines that produce more grapes with optimal size, weight and color.

    “The evaluation of vine nutrient status is one of our top priorities,” Afifi said. “At the same time, exploring new technology tools like this project is a high priority for us because they will be important to the future of the table grape industry.”

    Field testing

    The Leaf Monitor tool uses a handheld spectrometer to measure leaf reflectance beyond the range of light visible to the human eye.

    Once a leaf is scanned, its spectral data is uploaded to a cloud-based machine learning system designed to predict leaf traits and nutrient content. This algorithm was developed and trained by the Digital Agriculture Laboratory over five years using a dataset of thousands of leaf samples collected from California’s specialty crops, primarily grapevines and almonds. The samples were chemically analyzed to determine nutrient levels and structural leaf traits, providing the data needed to build an accurate prediction model.

    “Nutrient deficiencies in plants often go unnoticed until late in the season, by which point the damage is already irreversible,” said graduate student Parastoo Farajpoor, who is running the project. “This is why early detection is essential. Spectrometry provides a rapid and reliable way to identify these deficiencies before visible symptoms appear.”

    After a recent demonstration, Bulleseye Farms Irrigation Manager Geoff Klein said the tool could help save money and improve yields. Bullseye grows walnuts, pistachios, tomatoes, corn, wheat, rice and sunflowers in Yolo and Solano counties.

    Tailored crop management

    Currently, farmers typically take leaf samples, dry them, grind them up and send the samples off to a lab for testing, which can take up to two weeks to return results. Bullseye samples leaf tissues about three times a year.

    “Right now, it doesn’t really make sense to go out and take tissues in every single corner just because it’s expensive,” Klein said. “It’d be really cool if I could just walk out there and test a couple of different places.”

    The Leaf Monitor tool helps farmers tailor management decisions to specific areas rather than an entire field. Calibrating fertilizer use to real-time data can prevent overuse and nitrogen runoff, a financial and environmental challenge that many growers face.

    “I feel like there’s a lot of times we do need to put less [fertilizer] on, where we end up putting more, because that’s what the nitrogen removal formula says,” Klein said. “But with this app we can use less because we know the actual conditions at the time. I think it opens a lot of doors in terms of getting data back in real time and also utilizing the level of control we have with the data.”

    The app can also aggregate the scans and map out spatial patterns over a large area.

    “What we know is every field has variability that is not necessarily visible to the farmer’s eye,” Pourreza said.

    The prototype Leaf Monitor tool is free and included in a set of tools that can be downloaded on the Digital Agriculture Laboratory website. A web-based version of the tool will follow while the team continues to feed new data into the algorithm to refine the predictions. On average, it achieves about 65% accuracy across all traits, with predictions for certain nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, performing better than the overall average. Users will need to pair it with a spectrometer.

    “We need to produce more food while using less resources so we need to have some kind of monitoring system to give us precise and accurate feedback on our management practice,” Pourreza said. “This technology is growing very fast.” — By Emily Dooley, UC Davis

  • Commemorating 60 Years IR-4 Project Has Served Specialty Crop Growers

    USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is commemorating 60 years since the beginning of the Interregional Research Project No. 4 (IR-4 Project). Since it was established by Land-grant Universities and the USDA in 1963, IR-4 has championed specialty crop growers by facilitating the registration of safe, effective pest management solutions to meet their unique needs.

    Dr. Michelle Samuel-Foo, NIFA National Program Leader, serves as a member of IR-4’s Project Management Committee. As a former Regional Field Coordinator for IR-4’s Southern Region, Samuel-Foo brings deep knowledge of IR-4’s work to her role at NIFA and helps coordinate research and equity initiatives between the two organizations.

    “The IR-4 project is an outstanding example of a long-standing and very successful program that has been funded by  USDA-NIFA,” said Samuel-Foo. “On a fundamental level,  IR-4 helps to ensure that American consumers have access to a safe and nutritious supply of fruits and vegetables, which is a critical component of a healthy diet. I am extremely proud of the work that IR-4 does and grateful to be a proponent linking NIFA’s support and IR-4’s continued work.”

    Specialty crops are essential components of a healthy diet, a thriving landscape, and a robust U.S. economy. According to an economic impact study by Michigan State University in 2022, IR-4 contributes $8.97 billion annually to the gross domestic product. Additionally, seven jobs today can be attributed to every $1,000 of public investment in IR-4.

    IR-4 has secured over 23,000 pest management product registrations through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for food crops, and countless others for ornamental crops. Putting farmers’ needs first, IR-4 assesses a range of tools — including reduced-risk chemical and bio-based pesticides, as well as emerging technologies and integrated solutions.

    Notable registrations facilitated by IR-4 include Chlorantraniliprole (a reduced-risk conventional pesticide) and Spinosad (a bio-based insecticide approved for both conventional and organic growers). As a result of IR-4’s submissions, these products are approved by EPA for use on numerous specialty crops. IR-4 has also secured several biopesticides to manage Varroa mites in honeybee colonies. These registrations help reduce dietary exposure to pesticides, increase growers’ pest management options, and secure the vitality of the U.S. food supply.

    IR-4 works closely with public and private sector partners to achieve its mission. NIFA, IR-4’s federal funding organization, is a key partner. NIFA and IR-4 share goals of advancing agricultural research to best serve growers and the environment, as well as ensuring all U.S. citizens enjoy a nutritious, accessible food supply. NIFA’s support is critical to IR-4’s research, and IR-4’s findings in the field and lab help shape NIFA’s understanding of the specialty crop community’s needs.

    Headquartered at North Carolina State University since 2021 (formerly at Rutgers University), IR-4 works nationwide through four regional offices, each collaborating with growers, commodity groups, state liaisons, Land-grant University researchers, Extension, and industry leaders to determine research priorities and conduct studies. IR-4 also works with international partners to harmonize pesticide regulations, spearheading the effort to streamline crop grouping across agencies.

    As the future of pest management grows increasingly complex, IR-4 and NIFA will continue to guide the specialty crop community forward with innovative and sustainable solutions. Visit the IR-4 website to connect via email, newsletter or social media— the organization will be sharing stories of impact throughout 2023 to commemorate its 60-year milestone.

  • NIFA Invests $21.7M in Emergency Citrus Disease Research and Extension

    USDA-NIFA’s Emergency Citrus Disease Research & Extension (ECDRE) program brings the nation’s top scientists together with citrus industry representatives to find scientifically sound solutions that combat and prevent citrus greening (HLB)​ at the farm-level. For the first time in the program’s history, NIFA is supporting an HLB-focused Coordination Network (CN) Project led by an interdisciplinary team of scientists representing all three major citrus producing states. This CN project will benefit the US citrus by providing a much-needed synthesis of existing HLB research in an easily accessible online database as well as developing region specific decision support tools for citrus industry stakeholders, the HLB-research community, and research organization administrators.

    Among the funded research includes virus-induced gene silencing at UC Davis using insect specific viruses to manipulate psyllid as a strategy to control HLB in citrus. Read about all the funded research projects HERE.

  • USDA NIFA Invests $16M for Undergraduate Ag Research and Extension Experiences

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced today a $16 million investment in agricultural education and workforce development for undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds.  This investment will ensure that all students, including underrepresented and underserved students, are prepared and have a fair opportunity to compete for professional jobs in science and agricultural fields.

    “Our nation is increasingly facing the challenge of meeting the demand for qualified graduates in the agricultural, food and renewable resources sectors of the U.S. economy,” said NIFA Director Dr. Carrie Castille. “USDA’s investments in students today through programs like this will expand opportunities for tomorrow’s workforce to develop the skills and training necessary to meet the needs of the agricultural sector, while ensuring that all voices across the fabric of our society are heard and included.”

    These investments are part of the Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates (REEU) program, which promotes research and extension learning experiences for undergraduates such that upon graduation they can enter the agricultural workforce with exceptional knowledge and skills. This initiative helps colleges and universities provide opportunities for undergraduate students, including those from underrepresented and historically underserved groups, minority-serving institutions, community colleges, and universities. The program is funded by NIFA’s Agriculture Food and Research Initiative Education and Workforce Development Program.

    One of the funded projects included is California State University Bakersfield, which was awarded $599,999 for their “Superstar Sustainability Undergraduate Program for Extension & Research of Agricultural Science & Technology.

    SUMMARY: This SUPERSTAR project is proposed to the REEU program by engineering and science faculties at California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB). This 4-year project (40 weeks per year) will achieve the AFRI EWD program goal of “Developing Pathways” and cover 4 AFRI Program Priority Areas (plant health and production, food nutrition and health, bioenergy/natural resources/environment, and agriculture economics). The long-term goal is to enrich experiential learning and develop workforce to address challenges for the sustainability of agricultural system (crop health, grape quality, alternative irrigation water, wildfire, valley fever, cow manure management, renewable energy demand, water-energy nexus) in the nation’s leading agriculture region, California’s Central Valley. The project aligns with USDA AFRI goals, USDA Science Blueprint themes, and USDA Agriculture Innovation Agenda. CSUB (host institution) will collaborate with community colleges to train STEM/FANH program undergraduate students, women, underrepresented minorities, veterans and first-generation college students to guarantee diversity/equality (50% outside students). The project has 5 objectives: 1) Enrich students’ knowledge/skills of agricultural sustainability via experiential learning with 7 faculty mentors at CSUB (12 student researchers annually, mentor/researcher ratio=1/4); 2) Develop service-learning internships at government agencies and business/community partners with at least 6 industry/government mentors (12 interns annually, mentor/intern ratio>1/2); 3) Improve sustainability-related education by updating curriculum materials; 4) Disseminate project information thru website/listservs, symposiums and research conferences, and 5) Enhance students’ enthusiasm for earning a STEM/FANH degree and pursuing graduate study. The project will ultimately enhance agricultural sustainability, improve knowledge/skills/experience of future agricultural workforce, and build a tight connection between students and employers.

    USDA is committed to equity and inclusion in all of its programs and services. Investments like this opens doors, creates opportunities and helps build a future workforce that mirrors America.

    NIFA invests in and advances agricultural research, education, and Extension across the nation to make transformative discoveries that solve societal challenges. NIFA supports initiatives that ensure the long-term viability of agriculture and applies an integrated approach to ensure that groundbreaking discoveries in agriculture-related sciences and technologies reach the people who can put them into practice. In FY2021, NIFA’s total investment was $1.96 billion.

    Visit our website: www.nifa.usda.gov; Twitter: @USDA_NIFA; LinkedIn: USDA-NIFA. To learn more about NIFA’s impact on agricultural science (searchable by state or keyword), visit www.nifa.usda.gov/impacts.

  • New AI Institute Expands UC Merced’s Smart, Sustainable Ag Effort

    With a new $20 million federal grant, UC Merced becomes part of a multi-institutional research collaborative to develop artificial intelligence — or AI — solutions to tackle some of agriculture’s biggest challenges related to water management, climate change and integration of new technology into farming.

    The new institute is one of 11 launched this year by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and among two funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The newly announced AgAID Institute is shorthand for the collaborative USDA-NIFA Institute for Agricultural AI for Transforming Workforce and Decision Support.

    The AgAID Institute features four core institutions: UC Merced; Washington State University (WSU), the lead campus; Oregon State University; and the University of Virginia. The AgAID Institute bolsters UC Merced’s already strong focus on ag-tech solutions for sustainable food systems in California and beyond.

    “This is only the second round of AI centers the NSF has funded, so we’re really honored to be contributing to this important and cutting-edge research effort,” environmental engineering Professor Joshua Viers said. Viers is the lead principal investigator from UC Merced and the campus director of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Banatao Institute, which has been advancing ag-tech solutions for the San Joaquin Valley broadly. “We’ll be working to leverage computational knowledge to arrive at actionable decisions for farmers and water managers, and we’ll be the application test beds for much of what is developed at the other core institutions.”

    Much of that testing will be done at UC Merced’s new experimental smart farm, a 40-acre site adjacent to campus that is in the planning stages.

    While traditional AI development involves scientists making tools and delivering them to end-users, the AgAID Institute will involve the people who will use the AI solutions — from farmers and workers to policy makers — in their development. This “adopt-adapt-amplify” approach ensures solutions are practical and more likely to be adopted. The researchers will also work to create solutions that can adapt to changing environments and that amplify productivity by combining human skills and machine capabilities to be more effective than either would be alone.

    “People are very much part of the agricultural ecosystem. It’s not just plants growing. Humans manipulate crops on a daily basis and make complex decisions, such as how to allocate water or mitigate the effects of an incoming storm,” said Ananth Kalyanaraman, a WSU computer science professor and AgAID Institute director. “We aim to partner human knowledge with AI tools in a way that amplifies the end outcomes where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

    The AgAID Institute will be a multi-disciplinary, collaborative effort involving faculty and scientists with expertise in a diverse range of areas in computer science, agriculture and agricultural outreach. In addition to the four core institutions, the collaborative includes Carnegie Mellon University and Kansas State University, and in an effort to train the next generation of educators and farm managers, UC Merced will work closely with other minority-serving institutions such as Heritage University and Wenatchee Valley College. Private sector partners include IBM Research and the start-up innov8.ag.

    At UC Merced, School of Engineering professors Reza Ehsani, Jian-Qiao Sun, John Abatzoglou and Josué Medellín-Azuara will all be co-investigators and part of the Institute, as will social scientist Leigh Bernacchi, Ph.D., the CITRIS program director.

    With this grant, NSF has made a $220 million investment in AI-based collaborations, building on the first round of seven AI Institutes funded in 2020.

    The goal is to develop AI-based technologies that bring about a range of advances: helping older adults lead more independent lives and improving the quality of their care; transforming AI into a more accessible “plug-and-play” technology; creating solutions to improve agriculture and food supply chains; enhancing adult online learning; and supporting underrepresented students from elementary to post-doctoral STEM education to improve equity and representation in AI research.

    Led by NSF and in partnership with USDA-NIFA, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Google, Amazon, Intel and Accenture, the AI Institutes will act as connections in a nationwide network pursuing transformational advances in a range of economic sectors, and science and engineering fields — from food-system security to next-generation edge networks.

    “AI is an enabling technology that can help us develop the next generation of intelligent farm equipment and implements. These machines could potentially be more efficient, easier to operate and could reduce production costs,” Ehsani said.

    For instance, pruning trees is a highly skilled task, but a beginner-level worker could benefit from an AI tool that provides expert guidance to help decide which are the best branches to prune. The task is done better, and the worker starts to learn from the feedback. With a shortage of skilled labor, AI can benefit both the orchard and the worker, bridging a divide between high-skilled and low-skilled workers.

    Educating the workforce at all levels is central to the AgAID Institute not just to encourage AI adoption but as a matter of equity, Institute leaders said. The Institute plans multiple education programs from K-12 through higher education and worker training. The goal is to raise AI skill levels and open new career paths, which can improve pay and quality of life for agricultural workers. It can also attract more people to agriculture and computing professions.

    The AgAID Institute will undertake several challenging test cases involving specialty crops, many of which grow in the western United States, such as almonds, pistachios, apples, cherries and hops. These crops encompass several major challenges: They require intensive labor and irrigation. They are also vulnerable to weather events and climate change. Specialty crops account for 87% of the U.S. agricultural workforce, and about 40% of these crops are perennial, requiring long-term management and resource planning.

    A machine developed in Professor Reza Ehsani’s lab improves almond harvests by reducing the amount of dust stirred up as the nuts are gathered from the ground.

    “AgAID seeks to apply advances in computational technology to the long-standing wicked challenge of agricultural lands in the semi-arid West that are constrained by climate, land and people,” Abatzoglou said. “This support will help develop tech-based solutions for ameliorating the cascading impacts of water scarcity in agricultural systems we’ve experienced recently and will continue to face.”

    Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz, Ph.D., who champions UC Merced’s leadership in sustainability and its strong integration into the future of the San Joaquin Valley and its communities, addressed the importance of the AgAID Institute for students and the Valley.

    “This artificial intelligence institute for transforming workforce and decision support in agriculture speaks to our increasing national and global recognition for cutting-edge research,” Muñoz said. “Sustaining the future of agriculture — the primary economic activity in our region — is paramount. Not only are we building the future in the heart of California, but we are doing it in a way that speaks to our commitment to innovation in research and education that uplifts our region and results in a new generation of leaders for the Valley.” — By Lorena Anderson, UC Merced

  • NIFA Invests $30M to Help Boost Organic Farming and Ranching

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced today an investment of over $30 million for 33 grants that support farmers and ranchers who grow and market high-quality organic food, fiber and other organic products. This investment is part of NIFA’s Organic Agriculture Program.

    NIFA’s investment in Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative projects will help fund research, education and extension projects to improve yields, quality and profitability for producers and processors who have adopted organic standards. NIFA’s investment in Organic Transitions Program projects will support research, education and extension efforts to help existing and transitioning organic livestock and crop producers adopt organic practices and improve their market competitiveness.

    “As we work together to build a diverse, resilient and robust agricultural supply chain and ensure nutrition security for all Americans, these grants will support research and extension efforts at local universities to provide valuable information and training, especially for local, small farmers and producers,” said NIFA Director Dr. Carrie Castille.

    Examples of the 22 funded Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative grants include:

    • The demand for organic rice in the U.S. exceeds domestic supply and leads to significant import competition. University of Arkansas will lead efforts to expand organic rice production in the U.S. and develop a multistate outreach program to share information generated by this project. ($456,111)
    • University of Vermont will work with both the organic dairy industry and the organic aquaculture industry to further develop a partnership for feeding organic seaweed to cows, while financially benefiting both markets in a sustainable manner. ($2,900,000)
    • The University of California (UC) recently created the Organic Agriculture Institute (UC OAI) to facilitate the development of research and extension programs for organic agriculture in California. This planning proposal will support efforts of the UC OAI to identify and build partnerships with a wide range of organic agriculture stakeholders to form the California Organic Agriculture Knowledge Network (Cal OAK Network). The UC OAI will then convene the Cal OAK Network around specific crop groups that includes tree nuts, tree fruit, raisins and rice. ($49,440)

    Examples of the 11 funded Organic Transitions Program grants include:

    • University of Wisconsin will lead a multi-state, multi-disciplinary project to implement a systems approach to overcome challenges faced by growers transitioning to organic strawberry production, aiming to increase and sustain organic day-neutral strawberry production in the Upper Midwest. ($525,000)
    • Oregon State University will use essential oils to develop products to suppress or prevent potato sprouting in organic potatoes to address an important industry issue related to organic potato storage and control of premature sprouting. ($595,000)
    • Middle Tennessee State University will evaluate the effectiveness of biological control microbial agents and botanical extracts on fungal disease prevention and treatment for organic American Ginseng production. ($455,000)

    NIFA invests in and advances agricultural research, education, and Extension across the nation to make transformative discoveries that solve societal challenges. NIFA supports initiatives that ensure the long-term viability of agriculture and applies an integrated approach to ensure that groundbreaking discoveries in agriculture-related sciences and technologies reach the people who can put them into practice. In FY2020, NIFA’s total investment was $1.95 billion.

    Visit our website: www.nifa.usda.gov; Twitter: @USDA_NIFA; LinkedIn: USDA-NIFA. To learn more about NIFA’s impact on agricultural science (searchable by state or keyword), visit www.nifa.usda.gov/impacts.

  • NIFA Invests $14M in Animal Health & Disease Research

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced an investment of $14 million in research to protect agricultural animals from disease. The grants are part of NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative’s Diseases of Agricultural Animals program area priority.

    “Animal health is critically important to farmers and ranchers,” said NIFA director Dr. Carrie Castille. “This research will help better understand, diagnose, control and prevent diseases in agricultural animals and aquaculture.”

    Funded projects will focus on developing new and improved vaccines, diagnostics and antimicrobial alternatives; breeding disease resistant animals; and understanding better ways to manage animals to minimize disease outbreaks.

    Examples of the 31 recently awarded Diseases of Agricultural Animals Program grants include:

    • Iowa State University’s project will introduce a new approach to Vitamin A and Zinc supplements to help protect cattle against stress and respiratory disease ($500,000).
    • University of Maine, Orono’s project will develop a new, safe aquaculture vaccine to help improve disease immunity in Atlantic salmon in an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way (495,000).
    • University of Florida’s project will examine ways to improve immunity in pigs that can protect them from lung disease and influenza virus infections ($500,000).

     

    NIFA invests in and advances agricultural research, education, and Extension across the nation to make transformative discoveries that solve societal challenges. NIFA supports initiatives that ensure the long-term viability of agriculture and applies an integrated approach to ensure that groundbreaking discoveries in agriculture-related sciences and technologies reach the people who can put them into practice. In FY2020, NIFA’s total investment was $1.95 billion.

    Visit our website: www.nifa.usda.gov; Twitter: @USDA_NIFA; LinkedIn: USDA-NIFA. To learn more about NIFA’s impact on agricultural science (searchable by state or keyword), visit www.nifa.usda.gov/impacts.