This $750,000 Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310), will fund research to develop a new approach for protecting honey bees against viruses that threaten colony health and pollination services. The project combines expertise in engineered gut symbionts, peptide secretion systems, and honey bee physiology to continuously deliver antiviral peptides within the bee digestive tract....
This federal Project Grant award, totaling $587,749.00, was made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program. The award will support research by Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech) with the long-term goal of developing automated pest detection and surveillance capabilities for crops. The project aims to optimize low-cost samplers for...
This $742,173 Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (CFDA 10.310, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative) to Colorado State University will support a 4-year research initiative to evaluate interactions between wild bee populations and managed honeybees in peri-urban landscapes of the American West. The research aims to (1) characterize the extent and strength of resource overlap and competition between wild bees and honeybees, (2) determine if honeybees...
This Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program, CFDA 10.310, provides $180,000.00 to the University of Massachusetts (UMass) to investigate how the diversity of pollinator species in a community affects the spread and impact of a common gut parasite in bumble bees. The goal is to advance understanding of host-parasite interactions and inform management practices to support pollinator...
This five-year, $2.5 million project grant from the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) CFDA No. 10.310 program will fund research at Cornell University to understand and control disease spillover in bee communities. The project aims to collect empirical contact data from plant-pollinator networks, quantify disease transmission parameters, and develop dynamic models of disease spread and...
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) provides $174,987 to Vectech, Inc., a small disadvantaged business in Baltimore, MD, to develop a smart native bee camera trap system. The goal is to help address the knowledge gap around native bee populations and their pollination services to support sustainable agriculture and conservation efforts. The...
This $749,651 federal Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program supports research to understand how honey bee-associated microbes affect the health, fecundity, and longevity of honey bee queens and overall colony health. The prime awardee, Trustees of Indiana University, will collaborate with researchers at North Carolina State University and Wellesley College as sub-awardees to conduct field...
This USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) Project Grant award in the amount of $3,942,159 will fund research to address the critical challenge of varroa mite control for managed honey bee colonies that provide essential pollination services to specialty crops like almonds, blueberries, and pumpkins. The research team led by The Ohio State University, with sub-awards to partners including Auburn University, UC Davis, University of...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded a $299,482 Project Grant under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program to the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). This 2-year award supports surveys and DNA barcoding to characterize insect pollinators and their use of flowering plants in the Tamaulipan thornscrub forest, a threatened ecosystem in South Texas. The project aims to provide critical data on...
The Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded $300,000 under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program (CFDA 10.310) to Washington State University from April 1, 2023 through March 31, 2026. The project aims to develop Spanish language training videos and materials on bee biology, pests/diseases, and management for commercial beekeeping crews. These crews provide critical pollination services for US agriculture but often lack...