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The Land Institute

$929,274

Total funding

3

Grants

Funding over time

peak $423.5K · FY2020–24

$500K$375K$250K$125K$0

'20

'21

'22

'23

'24

Funding mix

By agency

USDA$929,274 · 3

By mechanism

—$929,274 · 3

Investigators at The Land Institute

Investigator-initiated All funding

Investigatorsi

Rising Stars

First grant in the last 5 yrs

Not enough data

Emerging Leaders

6–10 yrs in

Not enough data

All-Time

Most funded here, all years

Not enough data

Largest grants

CROP DIVERSIFICATION AND INCREASED USE OF PERENNIALS, PARTICULARLY ALFALFA, WITHIN FARMER FIELDS ARE KEY TO THE SUSTAINABLE INTENSIFICATION OF US AGRICULTURAL. MANY FARMERS ARE INTERESTED IN TRYING ALTERNATIVE PRACTICES SUCH AS DUAL PURPOSE GRAIN AND FORAGE INTERCROPPING TO INCREASE CROP DIVERSITY ON THEIR FARM AND REDUCE THEIR RELIANCE ON N FERTILIZERS. HOWEVER, MANAGEMENT COMPLEXITY OF INTERCROPPING, COMBINED WITH THE CHALLENGE OF "VALUING" THE MULTIFUNCTIONALITY AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES INTERCROPPING PROVIDES, HAS LIMITED ITS ADOPTION IN MAINSTREAM AGRICULTURE. THIS PROPOSAL ADDRESSES THOSE CONSTRAINTS BY ENGINEERING AN INTER-ROW HEADER (IRH) THAT ATTACHES TO EXISTING SELF-PROPELLED FORAGE HARVESTERS TO CUT AND HARVEST COVER CROPS (I.E. ALFALFA) INTERCROPPED BETWEEN ROWS OF CASH GRAIN CROPS. THE IRH PROVIDES AN EASILY ADOPTABLE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION FOR FARMERS TO REDUCE COMPETITION BETWEEN ALFALFA AND GRAIN CROPS AT CRITICAL GROWTH STAGES WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY HARVESTING ALFALFA AS A SALEABLE FORAGE. TRIALS OF ALFALFA-CORN AND ALFALFA-INTERMEDIATE WHEATGRASS (IWG) INTERCROPS WILL BE USED TO TEST THE IRH PERFORMANCE AND QUANTIFY THE YIELDS IRH MANAGED ALFALFA-GRAIN SYSTEMS PROVIDE. ADDITIONALLY, THE IRH WILL BE TESTED AT FIELD SCALE IN EXISTING ALFALFA-IWG FARMER FIELDS IN KANSAS, MINNESOTA, AND WISCONSIN TO DEMONSTRATE ITS UTILITY AND RECEIVE FARMER/INDUSTRY FEEDBACK. HARVESTING THESE FARMER FIELDS WILL OCCUR IN CONJUNCTION WITH FIELD DAYS AND OUTREACH ACTIVITIES IN ALL THREE STATES. ULTIMATELY, BY PROVIDING FARMERS WITH EFFICIENT MECHANIZED EQUIPMENT LIKE THE IRH FOR GRAIN-FORAGE INTERCROPS COULD INCREASE ADOPTION OF THOSE SYSTEMS, DECREASE THE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF US AGRICULTURE, AND INCREASE THE ACREAGE PLANTED TO ALFALFA ON US LANDSCAPES.$423,483

· FY2020 · National Institute of Food and Agriculture

**AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** THIS PROJECT ALIGNS BEST WITH PROGRAM 3, PARTICULARLY 3A, B AND E. DESPITE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPS) AND GROWER OPPORTUNITY ZONES (GOZS), ADVENTITIOUS PRESENCE (AP) IS OCCURRING AND NEGATIVELY IMPACTING THE COEXISTENCE OF ALFALFA MARKETS. FERAL POPULATIONS PRESENT AN ADDITIONAL CHALLENGE IN ALFALFA BECAUSE THEY CAN ACT AS BRIDGES AND REFUGES FOR GE GENES. THE GLYPHOSATE RESISTANCE (GR) GENE HAS BEEN DETECTED IN MANY ALFALFA FERAL POPULATIONS BUT LITTLE INFORMATION EXISTS ON ITS FREQUENCY (J-101 AND J-163 EVENTS) AND ON ITS IMPACT ON THE POLLINATORS, PESTS AND DISEASES, LIFE HISTORY CHARACTERISTICS AND POTENTIAL FOR INVASIVENESS OF THESE POPULATIONS. FILLING THESE KNOWLEDGE GAPS IS THE OVERALL GOAL OF THIS PROPOSAL. WE WILL (1) EXPAND THE GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OF FERAL POPULATIONS AND ESTIMATE THE CHANGE IN FREQUENCY OF THE GR GENE IN FERAL POPULATIONS; (2) QUANTIFY THE IMPACT OF THE GR GENE ON POLLINATORS, PESTS AND DISEASE AND ON LIFE HISTORY PARAMETERS OF FERAL ALFALFA, AND (3) PARAMETERIZE A POPULATION MATRIX MODEL FOR GR AND NON-GR ALFALFA. TO REACH THESE GOALS, WE WILL (1) REVISIT PREVIOUSLY VISITED FERAL POPULATIONS (CA, ID, WA) AND EXPAND THE SEARCH IN THESE AND OTHER STATES (WY, MT, KS AND WI); TEST FOR THE PRESENCE OF THE GR GENE AND PERFORM PCR AND QPCR TO OBTAIN THE FREQUENCY OF THE J-101 AND J-163 EVENTS; (2) COMPARE POLLINATORS, PESTS AND DISEASE AND LIFE HISTORY PARAMETERS AND (3) DEVELOP POPULATION MATRIX MODELS TO QUANTIFY THE POTENTIAL FOR INVASIVENESS, BETWEEN GR STATUS AND ACROSS REGIONS.$340,791

· FY2024 · National Institute of Food and Agriculture

ECOLOGICALLY-BASED INTENSIFICATION IS A KEY STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABLY INCREASING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION. INTERCROPPING COULD POTENTIALLY IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY VIA IMPROVING CROP PLANT DEFENSES. HOWEVER, IDENTIFYING PLANTS THAT WILL GROW WELL TOGETHER AND TRIGGER CHEMICAL UPREGULATION IS NOT A TRIVIAL TASK. PLANTS, THEIR PHYTOCHEMISTRIES, AND THEIR SYMBIONTS FORM A COMPLEX SYSTEM WHOSE DYNAMICS ARE DIFFICULT TO PREDICT VIA TRIAL-AND-ERROR STUDIES ALONE. USING DATA SCIENCE AND GREENHOUSE TRIALS I PROPOSE TO (A) DETERMINE THE EVOLUTIONARY, CHEMICAL, AND/OR ECOLOGICAL FACTORS THAT PREDICT CHEMICAL DEFENSE SYNERGIES BETWEEN CROPS, COMPANION PLANTS, AND ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI (AMF), AND (B) DEVELOP AN ANALYTICAL PROGRAM THAT CAN BE USED TO IDENTIFY CANDIDATE SPECIES FOR NOVEL INTERCROPPING SYSTEMS THAT MAXIMIZE CROP PRODUCTIVITY AND DEFENSE.USING A METADATASET CONTAINING PHYLOGENETIC, PHYTOCHEMICAL, AND ECOLOGICAL DESCRIPTORS OF OVER 600 PLANT SPECIES AND THEIR ASSOCIATED AMF, I WILL: 1) TEST ITS UTILITY BY SAMPLING VOLATILES FROM PLANTS THAT ARE NOT CURRENTLY PRESENT IN THE DATASET AND MATCH THE COMPOUND IDENTIFICATIONS WITH THOSE IN THE DATABASE. 2) USE A COMBINATION OF PHYLOGENETIC RELATEDNESS AND PHYTOCHEMICAL SIMILARITY TO SELECT 8 CANDIDATE INTERCROPS TO BE GROWN WITH 3 COMPANION CROPS, AND EMPIRICALLY TEST OUR ALGORITHM'S ABILITY TO PREDICT SUCCESSFUL PLANT PAIRINGS. 3) SAMPLE HEADSPACE VOLATILES FROM PLANTS GROWN IN POLYCULTURE TO TEST IF PLANTS CAN ALTER THE CHEMICAL PROFILE OF THEIR NEIGHBORS. 4) USE INFORMATION GAINED IN OBJECTIVES 1-3 TO DEVELOP AN ELECTRONIC APPLICATION THAT PACKAGES THIS GROUNDBREAKING APPROACH INTO A CONVENIENT TOOL THAT ALLOWS USERS TO SELECT PLANT SPECIES TO INTERCROP WITHIN THEIR OWN FIELDS.$165,000

· FY2021 · National Institute of Food and Agriculture