The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded a $1,500,000 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Project Grant to Purdue University to accelerate meeting national food loss and waste reduction targets. The 5-year project aims to: 1) establish a baseline measure of food literacy and identify strategies to promote food conservation and reduce household waste; 2) engage young adults in developing a national food loss and waste reduction strategy aligned with the Extension's health...
This Project Grant award from the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture provides $628,409 to Montana State University under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program (AFRI; CFDA 10.310) from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2027. The award will support the development of novel empirical methods to estimate household-level and food category-specific consumer food waste for a nationally representative sample. Researchers will...
This $650,000 Project Grant award from the USDA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program aims to address food waste in small and medium-sized agricultural operations. The project, conducted by North Carolina State University, will quantify the impact of inventory management and high-throughput grading technologies on food waste for growers selling produce through consignment sellers. The key objectives are to: 1) develop systems to quantify produce waste by monitoring packing...
This $647,421 Project Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) will fund research at The Pennsylvania State University from May 1, 2023 to April 30, 2026. The project aims to investigate opportunities to reduce food waste by analyzing the entire value chain for "imperfect foods" - produce that does not meet cosmetic standards due to size, shape or blemishes....
The Ohio State University was awarded a $736,956 Project Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) federal grant program (CFDA 10.310). The University will conduct research from May 1, 2023 to April 30, 2027 to determine the direct, indirect, and interactive effects of commonly used broad-spectrum insecticides on pollinator foraging behavior, marketable crop yields, and commercial...
The Ohio State University will receive $749,939 under a three-year Project Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture to study cover crops in the Western Lake Erie Basin through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) competitive grants program. The University will identify management practices and biophysical conditions impacting cover crop biomass production and soil health, quantify within-field variability in cover crops...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded a $717,070 Project Grant under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program to The Ohio State University. The grant, awarded on September 1, 2024, supports a multidisciplinary research initiative to develop sustainable extraction methods for obtaining protein, lipids, and valuable components from insect meal. This will enable the creation of innovative food products using 3-D...
The Environmental Protection Agency awarded Drexel University a $739,381 Project Grant under the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Research Program (CFDA 66.509) to develop and evaluate innovative culinary education videos and materials to reduce household food waste. The university will create an 8-part video series teaching home cooks how to minimize food waste throughout the meal planning, shopping, cooking, storing and disposing processes. A community-based education session with 100...
The Ohio State University received a $647,000 Project Grant award from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) federal grant program. The University will conduct research from June 1, 2023 through May 31, 2027 to develop apple germplasm with divergent levels of chlorogenic acid and other phenolic compounds. In Objective 1, the University will screen diverse apple varieties to understand...
This $165,673.54 project grant awarded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program will establish evidence-based food safety and operational practices to make "share tables" more feasible and attractive for schools implementing the National School Lunch Program. The grant recipient, Case Western Reserve University, will conduct qualitative interviews with health inspectors, a quantitative microbial risk...
The Ohio State University was awarded a $2,500,000 Project Grant under the USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program. The grant supports the development, implementation, and evaluation of a pilot household food waste reduction campaign in three U.S. cities. The key goals are to: 1) identify and refine educational messages and materials for reducing household food waste; 2) conduct and assess pilot campaigns in the three cities; 3) anticipate challenges for a potential national roll-out; 4) project food waste reduction potential and cost-benefit of different national campaign strategies; and 5) develop an extension education program to support governmental and non-governmental organizations in implementing effective consumer food waste prevention campaigns. Rutgers Cooperative Extension will provide strategic support on the campaign development, city selection, implementation, and extension program development under a $187,484 sub-award. The project period runs from Apr 1, 2024 to Mar 31, 2027.