Eighteen grants with a total sum of $6.7 million dollars are being granted by the USDA‘s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).  The grants are to encourage researching the interactions between components of an agroecosystem interact in food production: soil, water and sun to plants, animals and people.

“Population growth, along with environmental factors, including the growing threat of climate change, are putting increasing demand on the land, water and other resources that produce our food,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “These investments will help us understand how we can farm more effectively and sustainably to feed the growing global population.”

NIFA’s AFRI Foundational: Bioenergy, Natural Resources, and Environment Program supports research on healthy agroecosystems and their underlying natural resources essential to the sustained long-term production of agricultural goods and services. Agroecosystems may include crop production systems, animal production systems, and pasture, range and forest lands that are actively managed to provide economic, societal and environmental benefits. Projects funded through this program area contribute to the knowledge needed for sustainable production of agroecosystems while retaining needed ecosystem services-such as drinking water, pollination and climate regulation.

2016 Awards go to:

Arizona Board of Regents, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz., $439,080
The Regents of the University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, Calif., $439,676
National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., $50,000
Archbold Expeditions, Venus, Fla., $499,921
University of Florida Board of Trustees, Gainesville, Fla., $438,705
Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, Champaign, Ill., $ 440,000
Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, Champaign, Ill., $439,892
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., $474,632
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., $49,500
University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky., $ 149,736
The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, $499,094
The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, $439,966
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Okla., $ 375,000
The Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pa., $471,324
New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, N.M., $145,205
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn., $375,000
Utah State University, Logan, Utah, $499,884
The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, Madison, Wisc., $498,995
For more information on these projects, visit the NIFA website.