Project Grant DESC0020719

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) / Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program (CFDA 10.212), awarded a $650,000 Project Grant to S4 Mobile Laboratories LLC. The purpose of the award is to extend the generalizability and improve the accuracy and precision of the company's "SubTerra Green" system, a mobile soil laboratory that uses visible/near-infrared spectroscopic probes to...

Advanced Growing Resources Inc. was awarded a $255,786 National Science Foundation Project Grant under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program to develop a novel handheld spectroscopy device for early detection of crop afflictions. The one-year award will support the design of an affordable imaging spectrometer integrated with precision optics to bridge gaps in existing technologies. The device will be deployed to collect spectral data from grapes, a high-value crop...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded a $175,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program grant to Forest Concepts LLC, a for-profit limited liability company based in Auburn, Washington. The objective of this 20-month project grant is to optimize the entire size reduction and drying system for producing micronized biomass feedstock, with the goal of reducing energy consumption while enhancing feedstock performance for...

This Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program will develop and test an innovative technology called the Comprehensive Utility for Thinning Mechanically via Automated Prescription (CUTMAP) system. This system uses cameras and intelligent software to create 3D maps of forests and provide real-time recommendations for selective...

This Cooperative Agreement award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program provides $1,249,394 to support the continued development of a novel spectroscopy system for the early detection of crop afflictions. The project aims to create a vehicle-mounted hyperspectral imaging system with AI-powered diagnostics to enable farmers to make data-driven decisions about water and fertilizer management, and to control crop diseases....

This $650,000 Project Grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program (CFDA 10.212). The grant was awarded to Max-Ir Labs Incorporated, a woman-owned small business based in Dallas, Texas, to develop an advanced sensor capable of real-time monitoring of key chemicals in algae growth media. The sensor will leverage novel waveguide...

S4 Mobile Laboratories LLC was awarded a $175,000 Project Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop a prototype soil carbon mapping unit. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program / Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program grant, with CFDA number 10.212, will support modifications to an existing prototype unit to enable rapid and accurate three-dimensional mapping of soil organic carbon content to a depth...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded a $124,481 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program project grant to Working Trees, Inc., a for-profit climate-tech startup. The grant, awarded on July 15, 2023, with a completion date of March 14, 2024, aims to commercialize Working Trees' existing prototypes for a mobile app that uses a smartphone's camera and LiDAR to measure carbon sequestration in silvopasture systems. Silvopasture, the...

This $255,663 National Science Foundation Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships project grant funds the development of cosmic ray neutron sensing technology for precision soil moisture measurement by Silverside Detectors Inc. The company aims to address water scarcity challenges in agriculture through an automated, non-invasive soil moisture monitoring system with sub-field resolution. The system would provide irrigation zone-specific soil moisture data to enable optimized water use. This...

This Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (CFDA 10.212 - Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program / Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program) provides $174,874 to Near Space Labs Inc. to validate the use of stratospheric imaging as a methodology for wildfire monitoring. The project, which runs from July 1, 2024 to February 28, 2025, aims to develop commercially viable products and technologies to address...