The purpose of hatch funding provided by USDA/nifa is to support research on all aspects of agriculture, including soil and water CO nservation and use; plant and animal production, protection and…

The purpose of hatch funding provided by USDA/nifa is to support research on all aspects of agriculture, including soil and water CO nservation and use; plant and animal production, protection and health; processing, distribution, safety, marketing, and utilization of food and agricultural products; forestry, including range management and range products; multiple use of forest rangelands, and urban forestry; aquaculture; home economics and family life; human NUTRITION; rural and community development; sustainable agriculture; molecular biology and biotechnology. Research may be conducted on problems of local, state, regional or national concern. At umass amherst, the funds associated with the federal hatch award are used to support student employment and to provide operating funds for research related expenditures (research equipment, materials, supplies, and travel) by faculty investigators who employ a variety of methods appropriate to their discipline and specific program of research. Hatch funds are administered by the massachusetts agricultural experiment station, a unit of the center for agriculture, food and the environment (CAFE), within the umass college of natural sciences. CAFE allocates hatch funds annually to academic departments and the umass cranberry station. Academic department heads then allocate funds to faculty whose projects have undergone academic peer review and final review and approval by USDA program leaders. Seven of the academic departments that receive hatch funds are in the college of natural sciences (biology, environmental conservation, food science, geosciences, microbiology, stockbridge school of agriculture and veterinary and animal science). Two departments (resource economics and landscape architecture & regional planning) are in the of social and behavioral sciences and one department (NUTRITION) is in the school of public health and health sciences.