Award Data

Pollinators, typically honey bees, are critical for marketable yields of around 90 crops, including apples, blueberries, cucumbers and almonds. Honey bees, however, have been under considerable pressure from Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), leading to unprecedented and unsustainable colony losses. Pesticide exposure, especially neonicotinoids in seed coating, is one key stressor causing the general ...

Shellfish aquaculture in the United States has been expanding rapidly; providing jobs, promoting local economies, and yielding sustainable protein sources for a continuously growing human population. However, industry growth is restricted due to several issues which all directly relate to being able to get the food (microalgae) to the shellfish in an efficient manner. The issue is not that there i ...

In this Phase 1 SBIR proposal, Vuronyx Technologies will develop biobased isosorbide epoxy precursors as replacement to Bisphenol-A epoxy precursors used currently in "can coatings" for food and beverages.Canning of foods and beverages in tin-plated steel or aluminum is extensively used for food preservation and storage because of low material and productions costs and durability of the containers ...

The use of recycled water has never been more important than it is today, especially with California and the Western United States experiencing the worst drought in 500 years.To address the severe and persistent shortage of water,growers in California are increasingly looking to recycled water as a way to consistently meet their irrigation demands. The main challenge for water reuse in agriculture ...

A new reactor technology is being developed that can process agricultural wastewaters economically while also creating a marketable bioproduct. The combined syngeries of efficiently processing wastewater while also creating a biofuel product for resale helps to economically treat wastewater with a positive energy balance.

Nitrogen balance plays a critical role in agricultural food security and biodiversity. While some nitrogen addition, such as fertilization, is highly beneficial to agriculture, too much can result in lower crop yields and plant loss. Air pollution can tip the nitrogen balance toward unhealthy soil and poor growing conditions, and affect a plant's ability to cope with drought. Understanding the ...

Nitrate is an important nutrient for crop production. Soils with excess nitrate amounts and shallow groundwater tables pose a high risk to nitrate leaching into drinking water supplies. A shortage of nitrate decreases agricultural productivity. Measurement of soil nitrate content is a tedious, time consuming, and expensive process. Currently, there are no commercial sensors for in-situ nitrate det ...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has identified the need for a practical analytical instrument for the detection of air emissions resulting from animal manure management systems. Based on this very important need, Giner, Inc. proposes to study and evaluate the feasibility of designing and fabricating a simple-to-operate, selective and solid-polymer electrolyte-based, thick-film electro?ch ...

Cogongrass is recognized as one of the most significant invasive species in the U.S. Cogongrass is a growing threat as it continues its rapid spread across the Southeast, reducing forest and pasture productivity, destroying wildlife habitat, impacting rights of ways and presenting an extreme fire hazard. Throughout the World it has gained notoriety as the "Worst Invasive Plant of Non-crop Lands". ...

The growth of agricultural productivity in the past century can be partly attributed to an intense focus on pest management, including the development of fungicides and bactericides. Agricultural history contains many examples of fungi or bacteria causing complete crop loss. The use of fungicides and bactericides can prevent such catastrophic losses and maximize yield, however, these benefits come ...