Purdue's college of agriculture's 2021-2026 strategic plan outlines the vision and mission: to embody the ideal of a contemporary land-grant mission to prepare tomorrow's leaders for meeting society's…

Purdue's college of agriculture's 2021-2026 strategic plan outlines the vision and mission: to embody the ideal of a contemporary land-grant mission to prepare tomorrow's leaders for meeting society's needs, and to achieve worldwide leadership in growing a sustainable future by addressing challenges in food, life and natural resource sciences, working across disciplines. Hatch funding from the USDA national institute for food and agriculture (nifa) enables purdue's college of agriculture (COA) to accomplish its strategic plan through a broad portfolio of research across three units on the west lafayette campus. Purdue faculty in the COA, college of veterinary medicine, and selected departments in the college of health and human sciences who have research appointments funded at 20% or more by formula funds are required to submit a five-year plan of research. The agricultural experiment station director meets with faculty supported by the experiment station to discuss whether their research interests best align with multistate hatch research projects or a local hatch project. Faculty learn more about opportunities within multistate projects and explore details of these projects. Based on the assessment of multistate projects that align with faculty research interests and local hatch projects, the director and faculty determine which option to pursue. These hatch projects include both field- and laboratory-based research that directly connect with critical issues created to incorporate COA initiatives, and to align with priorities of nifa, research, education & economic goals of USDA, agriculture & food research initiative, foundation for food & agriculture research, and extension committee on organization & policy. Critical issues are climate change, natural resources and the environment, and sustainable energy; workforce development; positive youth development and 4-h opportunities; big data, internet of things, broadband access, digital literacy, inclusion, and innovation; human, family, and community health; food production, security, and safety; and urban agriculture and extension. The portfolio of projects includes economic research, plant and animal genetic and breeding, sustainable agricultural practices including cover crops and other management practices to reduce farm inputs while increasing productivity, molecular biochemical approaches to understand plant traits and human nutrition, social science of rural and migrant communities, and technological advances to quickly detect the presence of pathogens in produce, to name a few. Purdue's agricultural centers (pacs) and agronomy center for research and education (acre) are valuable resources for researchers from various disciplines. Located strategically across indiana, these centers offer diverse land and soil types, and microclimates, allowing scientists to conduct research in real-world conditions. Pacs offer unique advantages to scientists with large plot research for field-scale trials that use precision equipment to collect and analyze data, and offer small plot research for more complex research protocols. Pacs have plots designed for animal research, adoption of organic farming practices, and woodlands and ponds. The breadth of hatch projects leads to a range of deliverables and outputs including: development of new knowledge and technologies, enhanced management systems, and best practices and technology adoption related to climate mitigation, food safety, food sustainability, biofuels, economic policy, healthy eating, conservation of natural resources, etc. Stakeholders that directly benefit from purdue's hatch funding are commodity groups (e.g., indiana soybean alliance and indiana corn growers association); small- and large-scale farming operations, and veterans and underserved farmers; community residents; agencies/organizations; industry (seed companies, animal feed companies, herbicide and pesticide companies); and the agricultural research community