This $120,000 Project Grant awarded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310) supports a study on Culicoides biting midges and their role in transmitting viral diseases like bluetongue virus and epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus to wild and domestic ruminants in Arkansas. The 2-year study will involve blood meal analysis to determine host-associations of Culicoides species collected across the state, as well...
The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture (UADA) received a $270,000 Project Grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Program (CFDA 10.310). The goal of this 2-year project is to assess the prevalence of the invasive Asian longhorned tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis) and the emerging Theileria orientalis Ikeda disease in cattle in Arkansas. The research aims to improve understanding of the incidence...
The University of Kentucky Research Foundation received a $180,000 Project Grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) CFDA program. The funding will support research to identify genes important for the structure and function of insect ovipositors, the body part used by female insects to lay eggs. The project takes advantage of genetic differences between two pine-feeding pest insects to uncover genes essential...
The University of Florida was awarded a $702,998 Project Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) federal grant program. The grant period is from May 1, 2023 to April 30, 2026. Under the grant, the University of Florida will conduct research to develop resistance-breaking aphicides with novel modes and mechanisms of action. The University will synthesize new N-arylamine...
This Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program provides $750,000 to the Regents of the University of California at Riverside to develop novel insecticidal proteins derived from insect-parasitic nematodes. The goal is to characterize these toxins and assess their efficacy in controlling insect pests in agricultural systems, either through transgenic crops or foliar application. This...
This $224,138 Project Grant awarded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Crop Protection and Pest Management (CPPM) Competitive Grants Program (CFDA 10.329) will enable the Division of Agriculture of the University of Arkansas to deliver integrated pest management (IPM) research, extension, and education initiatives across Arkansas agriculture. The key products and services to be provided include: developing innovative pest management strategies and...
The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded a $180,000 Project Grant to Regents Of The University Of Minnesota under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program. The University will conduct research on Wolbachia bacteria and its potential to manage arthropod pests as biological control agents. Using functional genomics, proteomics, and synthetic biology methods, the University will characterize Wolbachia proteins that may alter insect...
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville was awarded a $650,000 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. The grant period is from May 1, 2023 to April 30, 2027. Under the award, the University of Arkansas will develop and implement a consistent, national-scale early detection and rapid response tool to prevent the spread and establishment of invasive...
This Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310) provides $682,500 to Texas A&M AgriLife Research to identify bacterial effectors from plant pathogens transmitted by psyllid insects, and evaluate their role in infecting plants and arthropod vectors. The goal is to develop new control strategies that disrupt pathogen transmission and plant infection. This original research will study the parallel...
The University of Arizona received a three-year, $646,180 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 grant funds research into the environmental transmission of symbiotic bacteria in Leptoglossus zonatus, an orchard pest bug. The University will study the rates and risks of environmental symbiont acquisition in confined bug populations, examine...