Cooperative Agreement AIDOAAA1400078

This $10 million Project Grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) competitive grants program (CFDA #10.310), will fund development of an integrated hydroponic controlled environment agriculture platform for sustainable cultivation of salt-tolerant food crops using saline irrigation water. Clemson University will lead pre-breeding of mustard greens, cucumber, and tomato varieties for salt tolerance, as well as...

This three-year, $649,999 project grant from the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI, CFDA #10.310) program will fund research at Texas Tech University to develop new rice cultivars with robust yield under saline and water-limited environments. The project will utilize transgressive segregation in advanced generation progenies of a cross between indica and aus rice varieties to identify genotypes exhibiting...

The Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) awarded $300,000 under the NOAA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program to Oceans Balance Inc. and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to develop procedures to scale the growth of Skinny Kelp (Saccharina latissima forma angustissima) gametophytes in culture. The goal is to produce a commercial-scale seedstring product that does not rely on repeated wild tissue harvests. Skinny Kelp is a...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded a $175,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project grant to Roca Water, Inc. The grant aims to develop a targeted salinity reduction system to address the critical problem of scarce high-quality irrigation water caused by climate change, increasing groundwater salinity, and stricter water management policies. Roca has developed a membrane-free electrochemical technology to...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded a $173,763 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I grant to Ocean Approved Inc., doing business as Atlantic Sea Farms, for a project focused on improving spore concentration and purification methods to enable commercial-scale cultivation of the high-value red seaweed dulse (Palmaria palmata). The goal of the 8-month project is to address a key barrier to the commercial viability of...

Field Phyto-Nutrients LLC (FPN LLC) received a $300,000 Project Grant award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program to develop algae-based feed for finfish cultivation. Through the award period of September 1, 2022 to February 28, 2023, FPN LLC will process the marine microalgae Crypthecodinium cohnii (C. cohnii) into feed using a low-temperature drying method. C. cohnii contains high levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)...

This $270,244 Project Grant awarded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program supports a research project conducted by South Dakota State University (SDSU) to improve heat tolerance in wheat. The key objectives are to: 1) Create novel variations in the Rubisco activase 2 (RCA2) gene to enhance thermostability, 2) Evaluate the impact of these mutations on photosynthetic efficiency and heat tolerance, and 3)...

This $650,000 Project Grant, awarded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) CFDA Program, aims to assess and forecast salinity levels, movement, and mitigation strategies in the semi-arid South Platte River Basin in Colorado. The key objectives are to: (1) quantify salinity concentrations, storage, and movement in soils, groundwater, and surface water; (2) forecast the impact of future climate, land use, and water...

The Colorado Department of Agriculture received a $535,934 project grant award from the Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation through the Title II, Colorado River Basin Salinity Control program (CFDA 15.509) to implement the Basin States Salinity Control Program. The grant period runs from October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2026 and will fund efforts to identify salt source areas, develop conservation practice plans to reduce salt loads, install conservation practices to lower...

This $1,545,144 National Science Foundation Project Grant supports research at Michigan State University to understand the genetic, developmental, morphological, and physiological mechanisms of local adaptation of the coastal ecotype of Mimulus guttatus to oceanic salt spray. The three-year award, issued on June 1, 2022 under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074), will fund research divided into three aims. The first aim examines avoidance of salt spray through compact growth and late...