The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), pronounced /fɑr/, builds unique public-private partnerships to support innovative science addressing today’s food and agriculture challenges.

FFAR’s work seeks to provide every person access to affordable, nutritious food grown on thriving farms.

Open Grant Opportunities

We match every federal dollar with private funding, delivering a powerful return on taxpayer investment. The funding supports bold, innovative grants to fill critical knowledge gaps and advance science. Our work improves the food and agriculture system and provides a better quality of life for Americans and people around the globe.

Challenge Areas

FFAR’s six Challenge Areas aim to solve large-scale food and agriculture problems, while understanding broad implications and impacts.

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Soil Health

Sustainable Water Management

Next Generation Crops

Advanced Animal Systems

Urban Food System

Health Agriculture Nexus

The Soil Health Challenge Area enriches soil by building knowledge, fueling innovation and enabling the adoption of improved soil management.

The Sustainable Water Management Challenge Area increases water availability and water efficiency for agricultural use, reduces agricultural water pollution and develops water reuse technologies.

The Next Generation Crops Challenge Area develops non-traditional crops and creates new economic opportunities for conventional crops that will increase future crop diversity and farm profitability.

The Advanced Animal Systems Challenge Area supports sustainable animal systems through innovative technologies, environmentally sound production practices and advancements in animal health and welfare.

The Urban Food Systems Challenge Area enhances our ability to feed populations through urban and peri-urban agriculture, bringing local food to these venues.

The Health-Agriculture Nexus Challenge Area supports innovative, systems-level approaches that reduce food and nutritional insecurity and improve human health in the United States and around the globe.

See Our Funded Projects

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Consortia

Keeping US agriculture competitive and profitable for producers requires developing research, technology, and products at an unprecedented pace.

Yet, research and development can be financially risky. FFAR establishes consortia that pools resources and knowledge to conduct research. The results are distributed to the consortium participants for use by their individual institutions. Ultimately, the consortium model allows participants to collectively explore multiple areas of research based upon common need, while minimizing risk and costs.

The International Consortium for Antimicrobial Stewardship in Agriculture (ICASA) is a public-private partnership created by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) to advance research on antimicrobial stewardship in animal agriculture.

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The Crops of the Future Collaborative is a public-private, multi-participant consortium convened by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research to accelerate global efforts to develop crops needed to meet food system challenges 20-50 years from now.

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The Irrigation Innovation Consortium (IIC) is a joint initiative between private, public, and university organizations, addressing growing water scarcity in the western U.S. and worldwide.

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The Precision Indoor Plants (PIP) Collaborative is a global multi-participant pre-competitive consortium formed by FFARto accelerate advances in scienceand technology that increase our abilityto produce flavorful and nutritiouscrops indoors.

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Support cutting-edge research that provides access to nutritious food, grown on thriving farms

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Recent News

Mobilizing Farmers, Ranchers and Scientists as Window of Opportunity Narrows on Climate Change

FFAR and U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance announce Agriculture-Climate Partnership Washington, D.C. (February 6, 2020) – Farmers, ranchers and scientists are at the center of an unprecedented effort announced today to develop and deploy climate-smart solutions on a global scale. The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) and the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance […]

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USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation Sponsors $200,000 for FFAR-Funded Research that Benefits the Poultry Industry

Tucker, Ga., Jan. 29, 2020 – USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation are announcing $200,000 in sponsorship funding for two poultry research projects to benefit the U.S. poultry industry. The sponsorship is in partnership with the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) and will leverage research dollars for two projects that improve poultry welfare and […]

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Zachary B. Lippman Awarded the 2020 NAS Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences

WASHINGTON (January 22, 2020) – The National Academy of Sciences awarded the 2020 Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences to Dr. Zachary Lippman of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for his work to accelerate crop improvement. The NAS Prize, endowed by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) and […]

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