Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** in the US an estimated 30-40% of…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** in the US an estimated 30-40% of food produced is either lost (never makes IT to the consumer) or wasted (discarded by consumer). Not only is this a major economic problem ($165 billion dollars lost annually) but IT is also an environmental challenge (133 billion pounds of food) that is further exacerbated by a changing climate and growing demand for ensuring equitable access to a safe nutritious food supply. Biomanufacturing most simply put leverages biological systems (bacteria yeast enzymes) to transform components of food into a diverse number of high-value products. There is an on-going need for scientists to be trained in cutting-edge scientific advances to lead future innovative efforts to reduce the economic environmental and societal impacts of food loss and waste. We propose to develop a diverse extension research and teaching (DIVERT) program to recruit and train outstanding fellows who will lead future efforts on reducing food loss and waste throughout the US food supply generating novel forward-thinking solutions to combatting food loss and waste challenges faced by the US.DIVERT will train three outstanding PHD students on biomanufacturing principles giving them technical expertise leadership and communication skills and experiential learning to rigorously prepare them for careers at the forefront of novel solutions to reversing the food loss/waste impacts felt by the US. Fellows will engage in high-level scientific training giving them experience with the tools needed to innovate solutions for food loss and waste. Fellows will also actively engage with students in and out of the classroom as well as consumers through extension activities central the land-grant mission. Together these fellows will serve as the foundation for an advanced training program that will train future leaders in reducing food loss and waste diverting traditional waste into economically favorable and environmentally friendly products to help ensure a safe and food supply.