USDA Funds $9 Million For Research on Sustainable Plant Production

The awards were made under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Foundational Program priority area of plant breeding for agricultural production.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced late last week that they were awarding nearly $9 million in grants for research into issues affecting plant breeding and production, leading to improvements in plants that are critical to the sustainability and competitiveness of American agriculture.

“As plants play a vital role in the success of the national and global economy, it is crucial we study plant breeding and genomics and innovative approaches to plant improvement and protection,” said Sonny Ramaswamy, NIFA director. “The knowledge gained from the work funded today will allow us to successfully face challenges in food security, bioenergy, climate change and increasing global competition.”

The awards were made under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Foundational Program priority area of plant breeding for agricultural production. The funded projects focus on classical breeding to include cultivar development, prebreeding and germplasm enhancement, related – species introgression and novel approaches to phenotyping, among other areas. To see a list of the universities and USDA research facilities that were awarded grants and how much they were awarded, click HERE.

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