USDA Announces $1.9 Million For Alfalfa And Forage Research

Mar 31, 2017

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced the availability of $1.9 million in funding for research and development to improve the agricultural productivity, profitability, and conservation of the U.S. alfalfa forage industry. Funding is made through NIFA's Alfalfa and Forage Research Program (AFRP).

"Alfalfa and other forage crops have great potential as high-value, sustainable crops," said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. "These NIFA investments will help expand this potential into profit for agricultural producers."

Alfalfa is a high-nutrition animal feed which also shows promise as a source for biobased materials and other renewable resources. AFRP is an integrated alfalfa-oriented research and extension program that supports collaborative research and technology transfer to improve overall agricultural productivity, profitability, and conservation of natural resources through conventional and organic forage and seed production systems. In FY 2017, AFRP will support the development of improved alfalfa forage and seed production systems, practices, and supporting technologies. NIFA is soliciting applications for the FY 2017 to support projects that:

increase alfalfa forage and seed yields as well as forage quality through improved management practices, plant breeding, and other strategies to reduce biotic and abiotic stresses and costs of production.
improve alfalfa forage and seed harvest and storage systems to optimize economic returns to alfalfa producers as well as end-users, including milk producers;
develop methods to estimate alfalfa forage yield and quality, which would support marketing alfalfa forage as a livestock feed, and also develop instruments to reduce producer risks.
explore new uses for alfalfa such as fish feeds, nutritive supplements, high-value chemical manufacturing, or other novel uses.

Eligible applicants include state agricultural experiment stations, colleges and universities, university research foundations, other research institutions and organizations, federal agencies, national laboratories, private organizations or corporations, and individuals who are United States citizens or nationals.

The deadline for applications is May 1, 2017.

See the request for applications for details.

Previously funded projects include a University of Wisconsin project to validate a new lab method to measure how well dairy cattle digest forages. A Washington State University project investigated pesticide resistance in the Lygus bug, which is infesting fields of western U.S. alfalfa.

Click here to see more...

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.