Award Data

This Phase II Small Business Innovation Research proposal responds to food safety market needs by developing a high-throughput pathogen detector that will reduce the potential for disease outbreaks and costly food recalls. The device developed in this program addresses a broad sector of food producing markets. This project will focus on detecting live Salmonella organisms in industry-relevant larg ...

This effort addresses an opportunity to dramatically improve the efficacy and safely of applying pesticides and herbicides to crops, by developing a real-time, onboard sprayer control system that will predict spray drift and ground deposition as they occur, providing corrective measures to mitigate drift and improve application. Combining the accuracy of existing precision agriculture tools with t ...

Salmonella is a bacteriathat causessevere stomach and gut distressinpeople andis the leading cause of food-borne illnesses resulting in hospitalization and death in the US. The resulting economic losses caused bythisbacteriain the livestock industry are staggering with much of the loss attributed to recalls, permanent disruption of the gut lining impairing nutrient absorption, and necessary cullin ...

Engaging in alternative enterprises is one of the options that small farms could use to enhance farm income. In addition to enhancing farm income, alternative enterprises help to diversify farm operations and reduce the risk associated with farm income. Another option to enhance farm income is to engage in value-added activities. This project proposes to grow red sorrel (sorrel) as an alternative ...

The purpose of this proposal is to improve the protocols of incubation interruption of Alfalfa Leafcutting Bees (ALBs) used in the managed pollination of alfalfa seed crop. An efficient alfalfa pollination management program coordinates bee release with bloom onset while minimizing residual pesticide hazard. Our customer feedback suggests that this approach may increase yield up to 100% for grower ...

The objective of this project is to develop technology for detecting distress events of isolated elderly people living alone in remote rural regions. Many people live in isolated rural homes for a significant percentage of their adult life. As these people become elderly they can have a high preference to stay in their home as long they believe they can care for themselves. They may also be unable ...

The objective of this project is to develop an in-transit ripening technology for pears that would help fulfill the long sought need of the industry, which is to deliver and display ripened ready-to-eat pears year-round at retail. The motivation is to overcome the limitations of the current supply chain logistics wherein fruits may be delivered to retail in lower than desirable consumer preferred ...

The cardiovascular benefits of fish oil enriched in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs), namely eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), are well-documented. When combined with gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), n-3 PUFAs have been shown to reduce the risk of chronic inflammatory disorders, such as asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. However, the consumption of fish oil remain ...

Ultra-high frequency (UHF) RFID offers longer read range and better immunity to interference when compared to low frequency technology for livestock identification. However, the longer UHF read range can create an over-range problem by reading tags in local "hot spots" well outside of the intended read zone. With UHF it is not enough to know that a tag has been read, but you must know where the ta ...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and EPA Deputy Administrator Stan Meilburg recently announced (9/16/15) the first ever national food waste reduction goal, callling for a reduction of 50% by 2030."The United States enjoys the most productive and abundant supply on earth but too much of the food goes to waste" says Tom Vilsack."By reducing wasted food in landfills, we cut harmful methane emissions ...