Cooperative Agreement 5950901004

This Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Alfalfa Seed and Alfalfa Forage Systems Program (CFDA 10.330) will provide $880,275 to the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to test alternative pesticides and non-pesticide control methods to manage the Lygus bug, a major insect pest of alfalfa grown for seed production. The goal is to provide alfalfa seed growers with effective Lygus control recommendations that increase...

This $324,979 Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (CFDA 10.329 Crop Protection and Pest Management Competitive Grants Program) aims to improve phosphine resistance management in insect pest populations in food facilities across multiple states. The key products and services to be delivered include: Optimizing an early warning phosphine resistance screening tool based on recessive allele frequency Conducting a survey of...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded a $749,936 Project Grant under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) to the University of Wisconsin System to develop statistical tools and predictive models for pesticide resistance in the Colorado potato beetle. The purpose is to generate landscape-level risk maps that can guide targeted pest management strategies, addressing USDA priorities in agricultural production systems and the 2018 Farm Bill goal of developing advanced...

This $500,000 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Biotechnology Risk Assessment Research program (CFDA #10.219) will fund research at Texas A&M Agrilife Research to develop a thorough understanding of gene flow between crop sorghum and Johnsongrass. Specifically, the award will support determining the frequency of gene transfer through pollen produced by sorghum and hybrids with Johnsongrass serving as the female parent....

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) awarded a $650,000 project grant to Colorado State University's Sponsored Programs division. The grant will fund the design and testing of a novel viral herbicide to selectively target and inhibit the growth of Palmer amaranth, an invasive weed that causes an estimated $33 billion in annual losses to U.S. agriculture. The project aims to develop a biocontainment system to restrict the virus's...

This $2,500,000 Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310) supports research to evaluate the joint impacts of genetic and community diversity on plant pathogen spread and productivity in perennial agricultural systems. The research aims to develop a mathematical framework for predicting pathogen dilution effects and increased productivity in multispecies polycultures compared to...

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) within the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded Kansas State University $749,902 under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) competitive federal grants program (CFDA 10.310) from March 1, 2023 through February 28, 2026. The project aims to identify genetic markers in Fusarium graminearum isolates that correspond to differences in pathogen traits related to aggressiveness, mycotoxin production, and fungicide resistance in...

The University of Nevada, Reno will use $800,000 in funding from the US Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) federal grant program to identify which gene at the Inhibition of Alien Pollen locus controls the ability of alien pollen tubes to reach the ovary during interspecific cross-pollination in sorghum. The researchers will characterize plant morphology, reproductive biology, off-target copy number, and...

This federal Project Grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program will provide $180,000.00 to North Dakota State University (NDSU) from August 15, 2024 to August 14, 2027. The grant funds research to identify and verify a gene in alfalfa that allows the plant to selectively inhibit relationships with inefficient, "cheating" strains of rhizobia...

The $180,000 Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program will fund a study examining how resistance to the herbicide glyphosate and insect herbivory may impact the evolution of the common morning glory, an agricultural weed. The principal investigator will conduct a field experiment and molecular biology research to identify the plant defense traits responsible for glyphosate and herbivory...