USDA Awards Grant to Make Dairy Industry More Sustainable

A new $10 million grant aims to make the dairy industry more environmentally sustainable while also boosting milk production. The United States Department of Agricultural (USDA) has awarded the grant to a research team led by Nicole Price. The team also includes Bigelow labs and Colby College. The team plans on using the funds to research algae-based feed supplements that aim to balance quality milk production with environmental sustainability.

“This grant allows us to bring together a multidisciplinary team of world-class experts in their fields,” Price said. “This is a team that has already been working well together for several years on finding pointed solutions for sustainability within the cattle industry. Now, we can expand our scope and work together on a whole-systems approach to sustainably enhance U.S. milk production.”

GrantWatch has similar grants available of up to $40,000 for U.S. dairy processors, farmers, and producer associations in multiple states to advance dairy product safety. There is also In-kind support of equipment and materials available for Michigan K-12 schools to meet school food service needs and increase students’ dairy consumption.

Environmental Sustainability Research

Research conducted recently has shown that certain algae-based feed additive actually lowers cows’ methane-emiiting burps. These burps have a serious environmental impact. These feed additives can actually be produced with a lower carbon footprint than land-crops. Further studies have shown that microscopic algae can offer similar results and could be scalable for small and large farms.

This team of economists and social scientists is trying to turn these scientific findings into an economic opportunity. They will examine how to integrate this product into the supply chain, while making the process profitable and popular. This will only have significant impact if the product becomes adopted in the mainstream and of course it has to be economically reasonable.

This research team lead by Price also includes a collaboration of researchers from several institutions including:

• Syracuse University
• University of New Hampshire
• University of Vermont
• Clarkson University
• Willaim H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute

This collaboration will also support teaching and extension projects.

GrantNews Notes

To find information on similar grants, make sure to check out the environment category on GrantWatch. There is also a nutrition category.

Also, make sure to sign up for a paid subscription to GrantWatch to gain access to all of the tools available for grant seekers and the complete information to all of the grants listed. Paid subscribers can access our exact keyword search tool to narrow down the focus of what funding you need for your critical initiative.