Project Grant 200951181060233

This $1,000,000 Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Integrated Programs (CFDA 10.303) supports research, education, and extension activities focused on improving the management of bacterial diseases affecting organic tree fruit production in the eastern United States. The project, led by Michigan State University, aims to intensively investigate the dynamics between bacteriophages (phages) and the bacterial pathogens Erwinia amylovora (fire...

Cornell University received a $120,000 Project Grant award from the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program. The two-year award beginning June 15, 2023 aims to generate knowledge and tools to breed apples with resistance to fire blight through fine mapping of a fire blight resistance allele in Malus sieversii and identifying genetic regions conferring resistance in mapping...

This $5,717,639 Project Grant, awarded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (CFDA 10.309), aims to develop comprehensive solutions for controlling the destructive fire blight disease affecting pear and apple production. The cross-disciplinary research team at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech) will use advanced technologies in robotics, genomics, biochemistry, and plant pathology to deliver...

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) received a $1,000,000 Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Integrated Programs (CFDA 10.303) to develop an integrated management system to protect crops, especially apples and pears, from fire blight disease caused by the bacterium E. amylovora. The key products and services to be delivered under this grant include: Identifying and developing a bacterial strain of Pseudomonas...

The Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station received a $997,657 project grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (CFDA 10.307). The grant will fund a 4-year research project to identify naturally-occurring yeast species that can effectively suppress the fire blight disease in organic apple and pear production, without causing unwanted russeting (skin disorders) that reduce crop...

This Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Integrated Programs (CFDA 10.303) provides $463,303 to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) to develop strategies for mitigating the risk of fruit russeting, a quality issue that has slowed the adoption of the biological fire blight control agent Blossom Protect in the more humid Eastern U.S. The project aims to test three approaches - protection and clearing, remedies using plant growth...

This federal Project Grant award of $179,780 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310) supports research at Cornell University to investigate the relationship between apple tree root system architecture and susceptibility to the fire blight bacterial disease. The project aims to elucidate the mechanisms by which fine roots and nutrient uptake influence fire blight severity, defense gene expression, and bacterial reproduction. Differential...

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded Cornell University a $445,976 Project Grant under the Integrated Programs (CFDA 10.303) federal grant program. The grant will support the development of an online smart rootstock recommendation system to increase organic apple production in the eastern United States. Specifically, Cornell will research disease-resistant rootstock options suited for various soil and climate conditions. In collaboration with the USDA Agricultural...

This $3,996,373 Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (CFDA 10.309) aims to create resilient integrated pest management (IPM) programs for eastern tree fruit enterprises. The award recipient, the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Northeast Area, will lead a transdisciplinary team of researchers and extension specialists in entomology, horticulture, economics, and social...

This federal Cooperative Agreement award from the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS), under the Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care program (CFDA 10.025), is focused on developing a biological control strategy for the European Cherry Fruit Fly (ECFF), an invasive pest recently detected in New York. The $115,000 award to Cornell University will support surveys to determine the distribution of ECFF and identify...