Project Grant NR190211XXXXG006

This Project Grant award from the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Soil and Water Conservation program (CFDA 10.902) will provide $682,861.00 to the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center (LSU AgCenter) to develop grazing land monitoring approaches that combine existing resources and new technologies, such as drones, to optimize pasture management and reduce the environmental footprint. The award will fund a sub-grant to...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded a $649,986 Project Grant under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) / Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program (CFDA 10.212) to Intelligent Optical Systems, Inc. to develop an affordable, reliable, and accurate water quality monitoring system that can be mounted on a drone. The project aims to overcome limitations of existing water quality monitoring methods by integrating proven...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service awarded a $225,000 Cooperative Agreement under the Agricultural Research Basic and Applied Research program (CFDA 10.001) to Technology Matters (TECH Matters), a nonprofit strategic technology organization. The funding supports the development of technologies for sustainable land management, monitoring, and research over the period of Aug 15, 2023 to Mar 31, 2027. Key project activities include developing sustainable...

The University of Kentucky Research Foundation was awarded a $612,765 project grant from the Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (CFDA 10.310 - Agriculture and Food Research Initiative) to investigate automated techniques for calibrating remote sensing imagery from small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) used in precision agriculture. The key focus is to improve the spatial and spectral accuracy of UAS-derived measurements so that research-based models can be...

The Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded Aerodyne Research Inc. a $1,199,956 Project Grant under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program (CFDA 10.310). The three-year award running from June 1, 2023 to May 31, 2026 will fund the development of novel in-situ soil microsensors and reactive transport modeling to study biogeochemical transformations in the rhizosphere. Aerodyne will create an automated non-destructive...

This four-year, $749,576 Project Grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (CFDA 10.310 - Agriculture and Food Research Initiative) supports the "Agricultural Career Exploration with Drones" (ACED) integrated project. The ACED project aims to develop and engage youth interest, skills, and motivations in precision agriculture technologies, including drones, GIS mapping, and related STEM fields. Key activities include: forming an...

This federal Cooperative Agreement award of $739,222.00, provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service under the Agricultural Research Basic and Applied Research program (CFDA 10.001), supports Auburn University in developing agricultural spray drones to safely and effectively improve productivity, sustainability, and precision application for growers. The award, with a performance period from August 15, 2024 to August 14, 2028, will fund research and...

The University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc. (UGA Research Foundation) was awarded a $460,747 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) to develop innovative remote sensing technologies and methodologies for precision agriculture. The 4-year project, running from October 2023 to May 2027, aims to recycle existing radio frequency (RF) communication and navigation signals to enable new remote sensing capabilities in microwave spectrum...

This Project Grant award, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program, is focused on developing an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system capable of navigating and collecting high-resolution data within densely forested environments. The $299,937 award, with a performance period from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2026, will enable Northern Arizona University...

This Project Grant award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program, with a total funding of $300,000.00, will support an integrated extension-research project at North Carolina State University. The key objectives are to: a) demonstrate and evaluate the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for frost-seeding and timely seeding of forages, b) evaluate the effects of bale grazing on frost-seeding and...