USDA Funds Projects on Smart Agriculture
U.S. Department of Agriculture
WASHINGTON (News Release) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service is awarding $300,000 to six U.S. universities – including three minority-serving institutions – for research and educational partnerships focused on climate-smart agriculture in tropical countries, FAS Administrator Daniel Whitley announced today.
FAS is awarding the funds under the Scientific Cooperation Research Program (SCRP).
“This year’s SCRP is explicitly focused on helping agriculture adapt to, and mitigate its impacts on, our changing climate,” Whitley said. “We are pairing some of the United States’ top research institutions and scientists with their counterparts from countries where agriculture is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. We’re confident that they can collaborate on climate solutions that contribute to food security and agricultural sustainability, both locally and globally.”
FAS is awarding approximately $50,000 each to:
Tennessee State University for a project in Nepal
University of Hawaii at Manoa for a project in Vietnam
Texas State University for a project in Mexico
University of Missouri for a project in India
University of Nebraska for a project in Paraguay
Louisiana State University for a project in Malaysia
Whitley noted that this year’s SCRP awards support two of USDA’s top priorities under Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Deputy Secretary Jewel Bronaugh: putting agriculture at the center of solutions to the global climate crisis; and advancing racial justice, equity and opportunity in USDA program administration through the involvement of three prominent minority-serving institutions.
