Produce Research

Recent Funding, Staffing Changes at USDA Could Risk Ag Research

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 01:50:23 GMT

Concerned. Uncertain. Worried. Unsure.

These were the most common words members of the Science Societies — including American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America — participating in an Aug. 13 webinar used to describe the current agricultural research funding world they live in today.

“There has been a lot of disruption in the normal funding process, especially at USDA,” said Julie McClure, agricultural policy expert with Torrey Advisory Group and the Societies, who MCed the webinar. “There have been a lot of actions taken by this administration that have implications for the research enterprise.”

Those actions included the deferred resignation program offered to federal employees in late January and the late February requirement that all federal agencies plan for and implement reorganizations and reductions in force . On July 8, USDA issued a guidance that, among other things, restricts who federal researchers can co-author research articles with. By the July 24 announcement of USDA’s planned reorganization , it had already shed over 15% of its total workforce.

According to panelists, the on-the-ground results have been the chilling effect of uncertainty, lost research, lost opportunities for students, and a potential future where public-private partnerships in ag research are in doubt and research is driven by politics rather than science.

Uncertainty abounds

The sharp reductions in staffing at USDA agencies have left university researchers awash in uncertainty according to panelists. For example, Michael Thompson, a soil science professor at Iowa State University and past SSSA president, described his experience at Iowa State University where soil scientists collaborate closely with colleagues in USDA agencies and programs.

“The USDA reductions in force have affected personnel and programs in the National Cooperative Soil Survey Program,” he explained, describing it as a collaborative initiative of local, state, federal agencies and experiment stations that improves soil maps around the country.

“Because of the reductions in personnel and the potential reorganization, there’s really a lot of concern that USDA’s larger plans for reorganization could reduce or eliminate the National Cooperative Soil Survey Program,” he added. “The future of that kind of federal-state collaboration is certainly in serious doubt.”

The funding disruptions have also cast doubt beyond just academia, according to panelist Colin Campbell, vice president of research, development, engineering and software at Meter Group, an agricultural and environmental research and technology company.

“USDA funding is a big part of how we fund our research to make more instrumentation,” he said. Campbell described worry over if already granted funding or personnel will be pulled as resulting in inaction. “For example, the Climate Smart Agriculture grant that we worked really heavily on and all got funded, but now the work’s not getting done.”

Lost opportunities

Panelists talked about lost opportunities. In some cases, finished government-funded research cannot cross the proverbial finish line because of recent changes, according to Thompson, pointing to the recent guidance that bars USDA employees from “authoring or co-authoring a scholarly publication” without some logistically taxing requirements.

“Completed research projects cannot now be published,” he said of the situation.

Panelists cited the obvious loss of research opportunities as well; canceled grants and pulled funding. Thompson said there had been 14 projects canceled or stopped permanently, including two in his soil science department. One project that dealt with renewable natural gas production from anaerobic digestion of biomass and manure mixture, while the other focused on training technical service providers about soil sampling for carbon content.

“The loss of funding led to the layoff of a professional soil scientist in our department and to shifting support for grad students to other projects.”

The impact on students was a point of concern for panelists. Diane Rowland, director of the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station at the University of Maine, described the impact on workforce development as huge.

“We’re training the next generation that will feed into the workforce,” she said.

Questions about the future

On Aug. 7, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that changed oversight processes for federal grants. Very generally, it requires federal agencies to appoint one or more senior appointees to review federal grant applications to ensure they “demonstrably advance the president’s policy priorities.” This was an area of uncertainty for the future.

“There are a lot of questions about exactly how this executive order will be enacted, what that means for particularly universities that receive a lot of federal funding through different grants,” McClure noted. “I do think this will add significant time to the process of grant review and funding distribution. And obviously a lot more scrutiny, and scrutiny that won’t be scientific in nature, it will be more of a political scrutiny.”

She said her understanding is that, for the USDA specifically, very few of the necessary appointees that have either been made or cleared through Congress where applicable.

“There are just so many hours in the day that a single person can be reviewing what are often very technical proposals,” she said, adding that reports of delays on grant funding or responses on grants are unsurprising in that situation.

Thompson also raised concerns about the future of independent science with the closing of EPA’s Office of Research and Development , which began in July.

“That office was EPA’s independent science arm that conducted research on detecting pollutant mobility and toxicity in soils and water,” he said, adding the office informed policy decisions and funded many soil- and water-related grants at universities like ISU.

“While it’s possible that a new EPA office on applied science and environmental solutions may be created, its science is not going to be politically independent like the office of research and development was,” he said. “A lot of soil scientists like me have had funding from EPA. The future of that funding is in serious doubt.”

NASA and USDA to increase collaborative efforts, including ag research

Thu, 22 Jun 2023 18:45:57 GMT

The USDA and NASA have signed a commitment strengthening the collaboration between the two agencies, aimed at increasing efforts to improve agricultural and Earth science research, technology and agricultural management, along with the application of science data and models to agricultural decision-making, according to a news release.

“From the heavens to the heartland, NASA and the Department of Agriculture are reaffirming our commitment to getting essential data in the hands of America’s farmers and preparing future generations to lead and strengthen America’s agriculture industry,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in the release.

The agreement affirms the USDA and NASA’s long-standing partnership on mutually beneficial collaborative activities that further education, communication and outreach to inspire the youth in America to pursue careers in STEM and agriculture, according to the release.

Related news: NASA seeks fresh greens and plant-based ingredients for space missions

What’s more, this partnership will build on NASA’s Bridge Program to foster workforce development partnerships with higher-education partners, including Tribal and Minority Serving Institutions and the USDA’s newly launched NextGen program, which is investing $262.5 million to cultivate the next generation of diverse food and agriculture professionals, according to the release.

Leveraging NASA to foster resilient food systems

“As the climate continues to change, NASA’s Earth observation data will only grow more critical to our nation’s effort to create more climate-resilient food systems, helping our farmers develop more sustainable farming and aquaculture practices,” Nelson said in the release.

The agencies intend to explore opportunities to improve crop performance to meet Earth and space-based goals, including activities in support of NASA’s Artemis program, which includes landing the first woman and the first person of color on the moon and establishing long-term lunar exploration for preparation of human exploration of Mars, the release said.

“From ensuring that future generations are able to reach new heights as they pursue careers in STEM and agriculture, to providing producers with critical data and improving global agricultural practices, USDA is honored to strengthen our partnership with NASA,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the release. “We recognize the critical interface between planet-wide food security, climate change, and space, and together we are advancing cutting edge innovation, research, and workforce development to tackle some of Earth’s greatest challenges.”

Space exploration cooperation with the USDA includes plant-related research on the International Space Station and other space and ground platforms that have led to new ways to improve American and global agriculture, protect the environment and help improve human health, according to the release.

This memorandum of understanding will build on the partnership between USDA and NASA that first began in 2015. Examples of recent and ongoing collaborations, according to the release, include:

The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and NASA, along with North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, partnered to send 16 young people to NASA Space Camp in 2022.
The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service and NASA created a free online tool called Crop-CASMA to help farmers and researchers use soil data to track droughts and floods, plan crop planting and forecast ag yields. USDA incorporates the data into NASS’ weekly crop progress reports to inform farmers and farm managers operational decisions and strategic plans.
The USDA Agricultural Research Service and NASA scientists are developing a hyperspectral imaging system to monitor plant health for astronauts to use in plant growth chambers for their pick-and-eat crops — such as fresh salad greens — to eat during future space missions.
USDA ARS and NASA are also teaming up to discover other ways to grow sustainable, fresh food during space travel, such as plants that have the potential to continually flower and produce.

NASA sowing seeds for space salsa

Wed, 11 Jan 2023 19:46:21 GMT

Extolling the benefits of fresh salsa, NASA scientists are working hard to bring Taco Tuesday to space.

Just imagine biting into a crisp tortilla chip with spicy salsa after weeks of nothing but ultraprocessed and freeze-dried meals, packaged in vacuumed sealed plastic pouches. The punchy, fresh flavor of a peppery salsa will wake up tired taste buds and galvanize spirits.

That’s exactly what NASA scientists are hoping to achieve with series of experiments dubbed the “thrive in space” trials. Scientists began growing and testing lettuce, tomatoes and pepper seeds in 2016 with the goal to develop technologies to grow, harvest and eat fresh vegetable favorites in space, supporting astronauts on long-duration space travel missions.

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A recent win for the “thrive in space” trials was the NASA’s Plant Habitat-04 experiment, which successfully grew and harvested hatch chili peppers from seeds, arriving at the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s 22nd commercial resupply services mission in June 2021.

“Growing colorful vegetables in space can have long-term benefits for physical and psychological health,” Matt Romeyn, principal investigator for the PH-04 experiment, said in a news release. “We are discovering that growing plants and vegetables with colors and smells helps to improve astronauts’ well-being.”

Growing hatch chilies for intergalactic salsa

A team with Kennedy Space Center’s Exploration Research and Technology programs planted the seeds in one of the three plant growth chambers nestled in an orbiting laboratory in which astronauts raise crops. The peppers grew for about four months before astronauts harvested the small, but mighty chilies. The chilies were chopped and enjoyed in a zesty, fresh salsa on tacos. It is the first time NASA astronauts have cultivated a crop of chili peppers on the space station from seeds to maturity, according to the release.

“The challenge is the ability to feed crews in low-Earth orbit, and then to sustain explorers during future missions beyond low-Earth orbit to destinations including the moon, as part of the Artemis program, and eventually to Mars,” Romeyn said in the release. “We are limited to crops that don’t need storage, or extensive processing.”

What’s more, crew members in space can lose some sense of taste and smell as a temporary side effect of living in microgravity, and they may prefer spicy foods or seasoned foods. Peppers are high in vitamin C and other nutrients, making peppers an excellent candidate for testing on the space station, Romeyn said.

Fresh vegetables for future missions

One outcome of the “thrive in space” experiments is the ability to cultivate edible plants may help support future Artemis missions at NASA. Together with commercial and international partners, the Artemis missions will establish a sustainable presence on the moon to prepare for future missions to Mars. According to NASA, the “thrive in space” experiments are building a knowledge base for scientists to understand how to cultivate plants beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

“The biggest challenge is the room you need to grow these edibles. Just to give you a general number, it would take about 50 square meters of soil to provide enough food for one person,” Howard Levine, space biology scientist with NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division, said in a news release.

“So, as we transport our crew members to Mars, the plants we grow will provide them with a token amount of their nutritional needs,” Levine added. “That said, there’s an often overlooked or minimized aspect to growing plants in space and that’s the psychological benefit to our crew members; they’ve often told us when they’re able to take care of the plants on board the space station, they really appreciate it as gives them a remembrance of what it’s like on Earth.”

Another added benefit to growing plants in space, according to Levine, is that they also suck up carbon dioxide, produce oxygen and purify any water that passes through them.

Climate-smart ag initiatives: Commodity markets for a sustainable future

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:41:45 GMT

USDA unleashed a flurry of activity this year with the announcement of the $1-billion Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Program, which aims to accelerate sustainable agriculture practices through producer incentives and premium markets for food that is produced sustainably.

Click here to watch the full 2022 Sustainable Produce Summit On-Demand.

Driven in part from downstream demand from consumers, retailers and food companies, production systems must be able to measure and monitor on-farm activity to create transparency and authenticity behind climate claims. Input companies and technology providers play a role in supporting producers for practice change and also helping CPGs and retailers understand production systems to reinforce and validate their consumer marketing.

How will the government’s $1-billion infusion influence how growers operate and drive premium markets for sustainable produce? That was the focus of The Packer’s panel discussion “Climate-Smart Ag Initiatives: Commodity Markets for a Sustainable Future” at the Sustainable Produce Summit on June 2.

Read related: Produce industry experts tackle zero food waste at SPS

“There’s no question that $1 billion in research funding is going to have impact,” says Tom Stenzel, principal with consultancy The Stenzel Group. “In the specialty crop industry, our land base is small compared to the row crops, so the majority of that funding is going to go to those areas. I think we have to know that. But we’re adamant that we want the fruit and vegetable sector to also get some of those government funds to do research in our space.”

One of the challenges that specialty crop producers face is setting standards for diverse growing operations in varied geographies and growing environments.

“We’re not a monolithic industry,” Stenzel says. “Soybean growers across the country can benefit from almost everything done for soybeans. For us, strawberries are different from citrus are different from bananas. And that makes it very hard in the fruit and vegetable sector to develop standards across the entire industry. So, I think what you’re going to see play out is each individual commodity group having to define for itself what are the best practices? What are the measurement criteria, and then how do you communicate that forward?”

Communicating those standards is crucial for food companies and retailers to earn the trust of consumers. In many ways, specialty crop producers have been on a journey toward regenerative agriculture for years, and there is an opportunity to help consumers better understand how production systems have evolved through criteria that can be measured and validated.

Input companies and other suppliers to growers can help construct messages around growing practices to create more transparency for consumers, says Rob Gibson, global portfolio manager for Certis Biologicals. He says biological controls, for example, once were relegated to small farms that were predominantly focused on organic production, but today about 90% of the company’s products are applied on conventional acres as part of an IPM program, and larger farms are investing in regenerative practices.

“About a month or so ago, I witnessed a 1,500-acre regenerative ag farm, and the guy was really into bios and how they worked, and when you looked at the farm and how clean it was and all the sustainable practices he was using, I immediately thought this can work [at scale],” Gibson says. “These commodity markets are driving the need for biologicals and other sustainable or climate-smart products because consumers are asking for it. This next-gen group of farmers are looking to know: How does their purchase of a product impact the environment? And then, how does regenerative ag play into the benefits [with consumers] that they’re looking for when their product goes to the grocery store and other shops? We continue to work in those integrated pest management programs and get into the spray tank mixes with these other chemistries and help reduce the amount of synthetic chemicals going into U.S. soil.”

Companies that are close to producers are in a good position to generate fact sheets on growing practices to help quantify sustainability metrics and messages to which consumers can relate. In the case of biological products, fewer “pounds on the ground” of hard chemistries, safer products for workers, and tank mixes that reduce sprayer passes all have quantifiable benefits that resonate with consumers.

“One way that we help communicate down the chain is through offering certifications,” Gibson says, adding that certifications and fact sheets on product benefits can help growers be confident in their use and confident in the climate claims they are making with their produce.

Third parties might be best suited to help growers to manage the data needed to verify climate claims. While a host of data is being collected at the farm level, synthesizing it into actionable claims might require purpose-built infrastructure that is objective and trusted.

“I think we’re at the infancy stage [for data reporting and verification],” Stenzel says. “For an individual grower to be able to measure even their own capacity, that’s the first step. Then you’d go to the next level of how do you aggregate that across a commodity? Who trusts who in our industry to share sensitive data? That’s going to be a big challenge. There will probably have to be a third-party data management system that ultimately aggregates data and then shares with customers that are authorized to view the data. We have some models in the food-safety space with third parties aggregating and sharing data. I think there will need to be a middleman between the grower and the end buyer to help aggregate the data in a way that’s then useful to all parties.”

Read related: These are the winners of Sustainable Produce Summit Marketing Awards

Bayer, AI company start greenhouse vegetable project

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 06:40:01 GMT

Bayer is partnering with Israeli artificial intelligence data analytics company Prospera Technologies Inc. in a program the companies say will optimize profitability and sustainability of greenhouse growing.

The program begins this month in Mexico, with the companies working with unidentified growers. The pilot will “continuously adjust and enhance the digitized farming system, with the intent to expand globally in coming years based on growers’ needs and changing consumer demand,” according to Bayer news release.

For example, Prospera’s “data visualization and analysis plaform” can tell growers which plants need water and the specific amounts to apply, according the release.

“At Bayer, we believe in the power of collaboration to bring more innovative, digital solutions to life,” Chris Moore, head of digital transformation for Bayer’s vegetable seeds business, said in the release. “Our partnership with Prospera is our first step into solutions beyond the seed for the vegetable greenhouse market.”

Daniel Koppel, Prosprea Technologies CEO and co-founder, said the collaboration can have “tremendous” value for greenhouse vegetable growers.

“Our advanced AI algorithms and data tools combined with Bayer’s complimentary knowledge and data sets have the potential to change the way vegetables are grown and help feed the world sustainably with fresh, nutritious food,” Koppel said in the release.

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