The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded a $617,065 Project Grant to the University of Wisconsin System under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310) program. The grant funds the development and field testing of a novel Positive Pressure Precision Ventilation (PPPV) system designed to cool dairy cow barns more efficiently and with lower greenhouse gas emissions than traditional ventilation approaches. The proposed...
This Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program (CFDA 10.212) supports the development of an autonomous, mobile crop monitoring system for vertical farms. The $174,980 award to Acreage Farms LLC will fund the build and integration of two 3D monitoring systems to collect environmental data, provide analytics, and enable farm control capabilities. This technology aims to...
This $4 million project grant from the Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program will fund research at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) to establish a testbed for applications of advanced artificial intelligence and sensor technologies to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from indoor and controlled environment agriculture through recycling CO2 generated by human...
This $760,000 project grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (CFDA 10.310 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative) to Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech) to improve recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) through the implementation of a novel partial-nitrification/denitrification and anammox (PANDA) technology. The project aims to evaluate the benefits of integrating PANDA into RAS to reduce...
This $125,665 federal Project Grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) CFDA 10.310 program will support the development of an integrated cyber-physical system (CPS) for optimizing bird welfare and productivity in commercial poultry production. The project aims to create a holistic monitoring and management system that combines robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant award under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CFDA 47.070) program provides $451,000 in funding to Clemson University to develop a networked cyber-physical system (CPS) for controlled-environment agriculture (CEA). The key objectives are to reduce energy consumption and costs while optimizing crop production efficiency in CEA facilities. The project will integrate advanced data analytics, renewable energy, and energy...
This $250,000 project grant awarded by the National Science Foundation's Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CFDA 47.070) program supports an interdisciplinary research effort led by the University of Virginia to develop a networked cyber-physical system for controlled-environment agriculture (CEA). The project aims to optimize crop production and energy efficiency in CEA facilities to address global food security challenges. Key aspects of the research include: 1) integrating...
This $1,000,000 Project Grant from the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program (CFDA 10.310) will fund research at Purdue University to develop an intensive aquaculture production system with near-zero emissions through integrating recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), phycoremediation using algae to treat wastewater, and anaerobic digestion for nutrient reuse, energy production and carbon...
This $874,335 federal Project Grant award from the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program aims to develop an integrated Cyber-Physical System (CPS) to optimize bird welfare and productivity in poultry production. The project will utilize robotics, artificial intelligence, and advanced sensing technologies to continuously monitor environmental conditions and bird health indicators within poultry houses. The data collected will...
This $300,000 federal project grant, awarded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program, aims to develop a novel multimodal sensor technology embedded into the nipple from which dairy calves receive milk at automated feeding stations. The key objectives are to: 1) develop this precision livestock technology (PLT) for calves fed milk via nipple feeders, 2) measure and characterize suckling behavior over time, and 3)...