Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station

Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station, a state government entity headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut, acts as a prime recipient on federal agricultural research grants and contracts across 29 federal agencies, with no subcontract prime awardee footprint. The station operates as a research entity conducting applied and basic research in agricultural science, forest health, pest management, vector-borne disease control, and food safety, funded predominantly through USDA capacity and research grants and cooperative agreements with the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and CDC contracts.

The station's customer concentration sits heavily with the Department of Agriculture. APHIS leads the award count at 87 awards, followed by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) with 59 awards concentrated under the Hatch Act capacity program (CFDA 10.203), the McIntire-Stennis Act forestry program (CFDA 10.202), and competitive Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) grants (CFDA 10.310). The CDC has placed four purchase-order contracts with the station: a $230,817 firm fixed-price award (July 2023) for evaluation of fall application of synthetic versus natural acaricides to suppress Ixodes scapularis ticks, a $315,000 award (September 2021) for vegetation management evaluation, and a $220,000 award (August 2021) for evaluation of fall and spring acaricide applications. Recent grant work includes a $728,000 three-year AFRI project grant (June 2026) developing nanotechnology-based fire blight disease control for apple and pear trees using nanocarrier systems loaded with oregano oil; a $1,651,926 Hatch Act capacity grant (October 2025) supporting risk-informed land management, vector-borne disease ecology, and agricultural sustainability research; and a $440,000 FDA cooperative agreement (September 2025) under the Food and Drug Administration Research program (CFDA 93.103) for human and animal food and feed safety chemical testing and method development, leveraging 150 years of food safety research expertise and 20-year membership in the FDA Food Emergency Response Network Chemistry Cooperative Agreement Program.

The station acts as a prime recipient on 260 awards (89% of total) and receives sub-awards from research universities including Cornell, Yale, Michigan State University, University of Connecticut, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, and Louisiana State University on collaborative NIFA and USDA AFRI projects. Recent sub-award roles include leading vector biology and epidemiology research under a Cornell-prime cooperative agreement with NIFA, managing molecular genetics and population genetics analyses under a Texas Tech-prime NIAID award, and conducting greenhouse and field efficacy studies under multiple USDA AFRI projects led by University of Delaware, Virginia Tech, Louisiana State University, and University of Massachusetts. The station's research portfolio spans forest health protection, invasive species monitoring and control (beech leaf disease, hemlock woolly adelgid, emerald ash borer, spotted lanternfly, hydrilla), vector-borne disease surveillance and management (ticks, mosquitoes, tick-borne pathogens), sustainable agriculture and soil health, plant disease management, and urban forestry—with activity trending upward (eight awards in 2026 year-to-date, 30 in 2024, 19 in 2025) and twenty awards reaching completion within the next twenty-four months.