This $10,000,000 federal Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program supports the development and demonstration of a Universal Feedstock Supply (UNIFY) chain logistics system for major U.S. crops. The project aims to transform harvest, post-harvest, and preprocessing methods to increase sustainable production of feed, fiber, and biofuels. Key products and services to be delivered include:
- Designing, optimizing, and demonstrating a pilot UNIFY system for six major crops (corn, soybean, cotton, hemp, camelina, switchgrass) to improve the efficiency and sustainability of the biomass supply chain.
- Developing new harvest and post-harvest equipment and methods integrated with more efficient preprocessing to reduce costs and environmental impacts.
- Creating extension and education curricula to shift stakeholder perspectives and understanding of the UNIFY system, and build a trained workforce to enable its adoption.
As part of this project, Central State University will lead the education and workforce development components, including developing biosystems engineering curriculum for middle/high school teachers and launching a "Broad Study" program for college student exchanges.
Generated 2/25/25, 3:53 AM