USDA investing more than $15 million in next generation of agricultural scientists

Dec 29, 2014

Undergraduate students are eligible for the first time

By Diego Flammini, Farms.com

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) declared an availability of over $15 million to be used in helping the future’s bright minds tackle the challenges surrounding the agricultural world.

NIFA supports the Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Human Sciences Education and Literary Initiative through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). AFRI’s goal is to provide support to students dedicated to tackling agriculture and natural resource and food issues.

Specifically, the funding will go to towards researching areas including food, security, water, climate change, food safety, sustainable bioenergy, and preventing childhood obesity.

Pre-, post-doctoral, and for the first time, undergraduate students are eligible for the funding.

“As we look to the future and addressing challenges such as food and nutritional security, environmental sustainability, and health, we will need highly skilled scientists to address these concerns,” said Sonny Ramaswamy, NIFA director. “Fellowships at this level are an excellent way to give tomorrow’s leaders the skills, knowledge, and experience they need to be successful and make a difference.”

The undergraduate students will receive hands-on experience and training, mentoring and other tools to help them join the workforce or continue their studies.

The funding hopes to groom the pre- and post-doctoral candidates into tomorrow’s leaders in facing agricultural challenges.

Applications for pre- and post-doctoral investments are due February 11, 2015. Undergraduate students must submit a letter of intent by February 18, and a full application by May 6, 2015.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.