Award Data

Hydroponic vegetable production in the U.S. has experienced steady substantial growth due to its ability to produce fresh produce, year round close to the source(s) of consumption. A major obstacle to hydroponic production is the gap in effective conventional fungicides and sustainable/organic nutrient sources to protect edible raw food crop against significant root diseases such as Pythium. Fresh ...

Soilless growth mediums widely used throughout the horticultural industry are either synthetic in origin, or require synthetic chemicals and energy-intensive processing. Ecovative & #39;s biomaterial consists of a self-assembling moldable mass of fungal mycelium, which acts as a biological resin that achieves cohesion to domestic agricultural lignocellulosic waste for the growth of a soilless grow ...

The overwhelming majority of all seeds used in agriculture are treated with various agrichemicals and other materials to provide protection and support for young plants. Seed treatments applied by crop appropriate seed coating technologies comprise a specialized segment of the agrichemical industry with annual sales of over $3 billion.The goal of this project is to develop a first-of-its-kind biol ...

Ecovative & #39;s vision is to grow sustainable products that directly replace the toxic plastics that poison our planet. The use and handling of phenol-formaldehyde foams and resins in the floricultural industry have documented environmental health and safety concerns. Although the physical performance of phenol formaldehyde foams is adequate for floricultural arrangements, there are significant ...

Billions of people worldwide consume milk and dairy products every day, and the global demand for protein-rich dairy products is continually increasing, with the FAO estimating that the demand will increase on average, 2% per year at least until 2022. Dairy farmers are challenged to improve efficiency and increase milk production. Key to addressing this challenge is improving the dairy cow lactati ...

Human land-use decisions can adversely affect the vitality and diversity of natural communities. However, well-designed regional development plans can mitigate or even reverse biodiversity losses. This project aims to develop methods and software for evaluating the effects of human landusedecisions on biodiversity.The proposed work will enable rapid assessment of the biodiversity consequences of a ...

Worldwide, there is ever increasing demand for quality milk products and its consumption crosses all nationalities and socio-economic classes. Milk is the cornerstone of a balanced diet and is consumed abundantly in both developed and developing countries providing a source of nutrients in a vehicle that is easily consumed. Additionally, in the United States, hundreds of thousands of jobs are crea ...

Biofuels have a strategic value in reducing our dependence on foreign oil and the ability to increase our energy security. Growing and processing oil-rich biomass into biofuel in the U.S. would contribute to reduce this dependence. The objective of this project is to evaluate the conversion of oilseeds that could be grown in the U.S. and U.S. territories into a substitute of hydrocarbon fuel. One ...

Forest insect pests cause significant economic and ecological damage every year. Dramatically increased pest activity in recent years suggests that changing climate conditions will inflate the uncertainty associated with pest risk assessments. Advances in forest pest risk analysis methodology are needed to allow managers to better explore the consequences and value of alternative management scenar ...

Infrastructure investment has been crucial to economic development throughout American history. Today there is a need for a sizeable investment in infrastructure, particularly in rural America and especially with respect to transportation and telecommunications. New facilities to distribute food and energy resources to the rest of the country will be needed. There is also a need for investment in ...