| community garden and composting project to increase tribal food sovereignty | 1033688 | LEECH LAKE BAND OF OJIBWE | 03/01/2025 | 02/28/2027 | ACTIVE | The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Health Division is requesting funding for a Community Garden and Composting Project to Increase Tribal Food Sovereignty. The Leech Lake Health Division Food Sovereignty and Food Distribution Programs both supply organic produce and meat to the community. The programs are available to anyone who feels the pressures of food insecurity. The programs help provide top quality food to households in need. However, a great deal of food does go to waste and there is currently no large-scale composting option in the community. Leech Lake Health Division is developing a new food distribution center in early 2025. To help combat an increase in food waste with a larger facility, this community garden and composting project will allow the larger food distribution center, along with other community businesses, schools, and individuals, to reuse the food waste to create composted soil for the growth of future fresh foods. Additionally, 40% of the Leech Lake reservation has experienced food insecurity at least once in their life time. The most common types of food consumed in the community are processed produce, meats, and dairy. This community and many Native Americans in general have poorer health outcomes than other communities (bia.gov, 2024). It is the Leech Lake Health Division Food Sovereignty Program's mission to work towards 0% wasted food and provide education to community members about food sovereignty.Leech Lake Health Division is located in Cass County, MN on the Leech Lake Reservation. The Leech Lake Health Division is a branch of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe tribal government (hereinafter "the Tribe"). The reservation is 866,645 acres and spans the counties of Cass, Hubbard, Beltrami, and Itasca. 13 communities or municipalities are encompassed within the reservation. The reservation is located in rural northern Minnesota. The tribe has over 9,500 enrolled members and more than 11,300 people living on the reservation or on off-reservation trust land held for the benefit of the Leech Lake Band. The Leech Lake Health Division administers programs and services for all persons within the boundaries of the reservation and to enrolled band members living off the reservation. Zip codes served by the Leech Lake Health Division that would have access to the proposed project include all communities in the reservation: 56636, 56626, 56633, 56663, 56636, and others. The Leech Lake reservation has a high poverty rate (20.8% compared to the national average of 12.6%) and 49% of community members are unemployed (census.gov, 2020). Almost 30% of the community is under the age of 20, and another almost 30% are over the age of 60. The median household income in Leech Lake is almost $13,000 lower than the national average median income. The average household size in Leech Lake is between 3 and 4 people. About 44% of the Leech Lake population identifies as Native American (census.gov, 2020).This project will build on Leech Lake Health Division's existing Food Sovereignty and Food Distribution programs to increase community awareness of these programs and promote education on making nutritious food choices and cultivating your own produce to reduce food insecurity. The need for this program has been identified through the increasing demand for the program's services and reports on a recent community health assessment survey about the type of food consumed or instances of community members going without food.This project uses two preferred methods of food waste disposal that correspond to the EPA's Wasted Food Scale: Compost or Anaerobic Digestion, and Donate or Upcycle. | The overarching goal of the community garden project and compost initiative is to promote food sovereignty among Leech Lake Band members and reservation residents. Food sovereignty empowers tribal members and reservation residents to cultivate their own healthy foods in an effort to reduce hunger and food insecurity, promote consumption of nutritious foods, and reduce reliance on external food providers, whose disposal of food waste is out of consumers' control. A secondary goal of the community garden project and compost initiative is working with the environment to fulfill local and sacred indigenous needs (food and nutrition) while being conscious of the environment's needs (proper tending and disposal of waste). An incidental outcome of the project is educating the community about tribal customs and the role those customs play in the overall tribal food sovereignty program. A long-term outcome is a reduced cost for all Leech Lake households, but especially low-income households, in purchasing or obtaining fresh meats and produce.Goal One. The community garden project will encourage tribal members and reservation residents to learn about gardening without having to find land to garden and supplies to cultivate their crops (such as fertilizer which the generated compost will be used in place of). According to bia.gov, "For [American Indian and Alaska Native] communities, food sovereignty is about re-introducing traditional processes of food production and distribution." The community garden project will utilize compost as a fertilizer for community gardeners working in the community garden to be established under this grant, located within the reservation boundaries. The community garden project will help the Leech Lake Health Division and project partners work towards accomplishing the overarching goal mentioned above of promoting food sovereignty. The objectives for Goal One include:Objective 1.1. Educate at least 300 tribal members and reservation residents about the benefits of community gardening by the end of the grant period.Objective 1.2. Assist at least 50 tribal members and reservation residents with the implementation of their own community garden plot at the tribe's new community garden by the end of the grant period.Objective 1.3. Production of at least 100 pounds of food from all community garden plots by the end of the first year of the community garden project.Objective 1.4. 10% reduction in reliance on third party food distributors (i.e. grocery stores) among community gardeners by the end of the grant period.Objective 1.5. 20% reduction in reliance on the tribe's food distribution services among community gardeners by the end of the grant period.The compost initiative will help the Leech Lake Health Division work towards the secondary goal identified above of promoting awareness of working with the environment to fulfill mutual needs. According to epa.gov 2024, composting protects the climate by reducing methane emissions from landfills, it recycles organic material to be used again in another form and recovers organic materials to keep them local. Compost adds nutrients to existing soil to increase the soil health and reduce toxic runoff into bodies of water, unlike chemical fertilizer which may erode topsoil and contribute toxic chemicals to bodies of water. Compost can also be a form of climate change mitigation by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping the soil retain water to combat droughts. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, food waste generates about 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Leech Lake Health Division plans to use the community garden and composting project as a way to reduce the Leech Lake community's greenhouse gas emissions. The compost will be generated by collecting food waste from the Leech Lake Food Distribution Center, community gardeners, and tribally owned businesses and schools, as well as any individuals who wish to contribute their food waste. Currently this waste is thrown out as garbage because the Tribe does not have composting supplies, educational materials for outreach efforts, or resources to manage start-up composting activities. This new compost initiative for the community garden project aligns with the EPA's fourth most preferred method of food waste elimination on the Wasted Food Scale: Compost or Anaerobic Digestion. Incidentally, it is anticipated the community gardeners may end up with excess crops (hereinafter "surplus crops"). Canning materials and services will be available to community gardeners wishing to donate their surplus crop to the tribe's Food Distribution Program rather than wasting it because it cannot be consumed by the community gardener's household, aligning with the EPA's second most preferred method of food waste elimination on the Wasted Food Scale: Donate or Upcycle. The objectives for Goal Two include:Objective 2.1. Educate at least 100 tribal members and reservation residents about the benefits of and uses for composting by the end of the grant period.Objective 2.2. Generate at least 300 pounds of compost by the end of the grant period.Objective 2.3. At least 3% of the Tribe's Food Distribution Center's food inventory is donated from community gardeners' surplus crops by the end of the grant period.Objective 2.4. At least 1% of reservation farmers begin using compost in place of fertilizer with a commitment to increase compost use over the next 10 years by the end of the grant period.Objective 2.5. At least a 1% increase in interest among tribal members and reservation residents in hobby farming or small-scale commercial farming by the end of the grant period. |
| Enhancing Food Sovereignty through Anaerobic Digestion for the Yurok Tribe | 1033672 | YUROK TRIBE | 03/01/2025 | 02/28/2027 | ACTIVE | The Yurok Tribe is launching an innovative project to improve food sovereignty and sustainability by addressing food waste on the Yurok Reservation. This initiative will establish two anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities in the remote communities of Weitchpec and Wautec. These facilities will transform food waste into valuable resources, including nutrient-rich compost to support local agriculture and biogas to power irrigation systems in community gardens. By diverting food waste from landfills, the project will reduce environmental pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and the costs associated with waste disposal.The project addresses a critical need in these rural areas, where traditional waste management infrastructure is limited, and food insecurity is a significant challenge. Many residents rely on a mix of subsistence living and purchased food, with limited access to fresh produce due to geographic isolation and economic hardship. Compost produced by the AD facilities will improve soil health and enhance food production in the Tribe's Food Villages, spaces dedicated to growing fresh produce and strengthening traditional food systems. The biogas generated will provide a renewable energy source to power well pumps for irrigation, reducing reliance on grid electricity and advancing climate resilience.In addition to waste diversion, the project emphasizes community engagement and education. Workshops, outreach materials, and school programs will teach community members, students, and local businesses about sustainable waste management and the benefits of anaerobic digestion. By fostering awareness and participation, the project will create lasting change, embedding sustainable practices in the community.The Yurok Tribe's Environmental Department will oversee the project, working closely with schools, businesses, and other tribal programs. The initiative will also produce a comprehensive report on its results, serving as a replicable model for other tribal and rural communities facing similar challenges. The project aligns with the Tribe's commitment to environmental stewardship, zero waste goals, and carbon neutrality, contributing to long-term sustainability, food security, and climate action.By the end of the project, the Tribe expects to achieve a 50% reduction in food waste in Weitchpec and Wautec, produce thousands of pounds of compost annually, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This initiative not only addresses immediate waste management needs but also advances broader goals of food sovereignty, environmental justice, and cultural preservation for the Yurok Tribe. | The overall goal of this project is to increase the organic waste diversion rate of the Yurok Tribe, its and members, and the nearby community through the creation of a food waste diversion pilot program on the Yurok Indian Reservation (YIR). This goal will be accomplished through the development of two anaerobic digester facilities in Weitchpec (ZIP code: 95546) and Wautec (ZIP code: 95546). While the distance between these two villages is less than 20 miles, it takes nearly an hour to drive the narrow, one-lane road. These villages are geographically isolated, with limited access to advanced waste processing technologies and resources. The initial phases of the pilot project will focus on diverting food waste produced locally, with plans on expansion in the future to include other sources, such as businesses in neighboring communities and household collection. Current waste management practices are insufficient, leading to the loss of potential resources like compost and contributing to environmental degradation. The implementation of additional anaerobic digestors is critical to addressing these issues, transforming food waste into valuable resources, and advancing our food sovereignty goals.Overarching Goal: The overarching goal of this project is to enhance food sovereignty and environmental sustainability in the Weitchpec and Wautec Food Villages on the Yurok Reservation by implementing anaerobic digestors for composting and food waste reduction. This initiative aims to transform organic waste into valuable compost, thereby reducing environmental impact, supporting local agriculture, and advancing the well-being of these remote communities.Supporting Objectives: Install Two Anaerobic Digestors: Deploy two additional anaerobic digestors in the Weitchpec and Wautec Food Villages to process organic waste into compost and biogas.Ensure that these facilities are operational within 12 months during the grant period.Reduce Food Waste and Promote Resource Recovery:Achieve a 50% reduction in food waste in the Weitchpec and Wautec communities within two years by diverting organic waste from landfills to the anaerobic digestors.Utilize the compost produced by the digestors to enhance soil health in community gardens, increasing local food production and supporting traditional agricultural practices.Engage and Educate the Community: Conduct community workshops and training sessions focused on the benefits of anaerobic digestion, composting, and sustainable waste management.Involve community members from each location in educational activities and composting initiatives by the end of the project.Monitor and Evaluate Environmental Impact: Establish a monitoring system to track improvements in soil health and other environmental benefits associated with this project.Share results with the community and stakeholders to encourage replication of the project in other remote and rural areas. |
| Bridgeport Compost and Food Waste Reduction Pilot Project | 1033534 | CITY OF BRIDGEPORT | 03/01/2025 | 02/28/2027 | ACTIVE | The proposed project represents a collaboration between the City of Bridgeport and Park City Compost Initiative (PCCI), a 501c3 nonprofit organization located in Bridgeport, CT. PCCI has successfully operated an aerated static pile composting pilot program in Bridgeport since Spring of 2020. The City of Bridgeport will subaward funds to PCCI for the purchase of equipment and site development, resulting in the completion of a commercial-scale aerobic composting facility. The City will work directly with PCCI to develop a municipal compost plan, to divert household and commercial food scraps, and to adopt the priority use of compost to dress and improve parklands and community gardens. The proposed project will have a capacity of 5,000 tons per year, with the site having space to expand significantly in the future. This volume will address a substantial share of Bridgeport's overall food scrap volume, leading to a reduction in waste disposal costs and environmental burdens associated with the incineration of solid waste. | The overarching goal of the project is to provide the startup capital and infrastructure to significantly expand the capacity of Park City Compost Initiative's composting operations, providing PCCI with the scale to serve Bridgeport and the broader region in the most carbon- and climate-friendly manner, with lowest operating and capital costs.With the requested grant of $220,749.00, the project team will fund the one-time purchase of additional infrastructure to rapidly build out the site for increased scale. This will include mixing receiving fabric structure, additional concrete block systems, and equipment to increase the efficiency of processing higher quantities of food scraps and compost, including a food scrap grinder, a conveyor to top off the piles, and a used mason dump truck and truck scale for properly receiving and billing for the tippings. The project will also comprise the purchase of an integrated accounting system tied to the scale and AR system for billing and reporting to state regulators (CT DEEP) and other interested parties like grantors, with a portable office trailer for four season operations.The objectives of the project are, in part, the infrastructure itself - as proposed, this will involve the purchase and construction of a portable-but-stable, cost-effective structure. This will be accomplished using commercial concrete blocks (18"H x3'W x 6'L) for the ASP Rows as well as barriers for the chip, leaves and shavings that are processed into the food scraps for composting. We also intend to use parking curb like structures under the piles to protect the aeration pipes from damage by the tractor or crushing weight of the hot piles.With this capability, PCCI will be able to compost more than 5,000 tons of food scraps a year on site, sequestering some 65% of its carbon into the soil in an environmentally friendly way compared to the alternative incineration - this is 6.5 million pounds sequestered and a higher amount avoided released to the atmosphere from incineration. With both awareness campaigns and education programming as well as the expansion of both collection and composting via the hub and spoke strategy, the impact should be substantially larger. PCCI also intends to collaborate with other sites and entities to manage compost operations to further increase impact. All of this starts with this project and the impact it will have.The Park City Compost Initiative intends to hire local workers from the community including returning citizens looking for honest jobs at fair wages. PCCI has specifically connected with re-entry programs to provide jobs and living wages to help individuals re-entering society. Initial staffing will be 4 - 6 people, but full operations will likely be closer to 10 - 12 people to operate the composting and continue the education programing.Composting the food scraps aerobically is a low cost (operating and capital) and low risk way to treat this volume of food scraps. It also significantly reduces the climate burden of this waste by avoiding the burning of natural gas and lost opportunity for carbon sequestration (as high as 65% per USDA models) achieved by composting the food scraps into soil amendment vs incineration. Further environmental benefits are achieved in soil health, avoidance of chemical fertilizers, and improved soil water retention from application of the compost to local community gardens, park lands, and private farms and gardens as a result of PCCI's donation of finished compost and commitment to continue to do so.The environmental justice aspect of this project is both direct and indirect.reducing the local pollution impact of solid waste disposal (incineration)reducing the transportation exhaust burden on Bridgeport as the local hub for transport in any direction for the region.avoiding the potential urban siting of the next alternative technology, an anaerobic digestor with its own problems of methane generation, pathogenic digestate requiring after process storage and treatment, and risk of shut down for failures or scheduled maintenance resulting in back up of rotting food waste in the community.These impacts can be eliminated through local, community-based scaled aerobic composting of the food scraps, and application of the compost as much as possible locally. We emphasize scaled operations as the hot composting from well managed community composting and larger operations like this proposal help ensure pathogens and noxious weed and other seeds are destroyed to avoid distribution in the finished compost. Scaled Aerobic Compost operations with their high temperatures (normally 130-140* Fahrenheit - but not uncommon to be upwards of 160* Fahrenheit) discourages nuisance vectors that may treat cold back yard compost bins as a buffet.Building local community understanding and support for a cost effective, natural and non-noxious aerobic composting program for Bridgeport and the region, will further help the impacted communities recover from ongoing and past environmental justice burdens. This will help reduce food waste earlier in the food cycle (supporting the EPA Food Recovery Hierarchy) and improve compliance with food separation through understanding, participation, and engaging children as advocates much like what was done to reduce cigarette smoking. PCCI's experience already with local community initiatives and engagement with food banks and urban farmers markets has increased its community composting volume by double over the past two years. |
| City of Portland Multifamily Food Waste Composting Pilot Program | 1033489 | CITY OF PORTLAND | 03/01/2025 | 06/30/2027 | ACTIVE | This project pilots composting at multifamily (5 or more unit) properties in the City of Portland, with the intention of better understanding what technology and infrastructure characteristics inform a successful compost program.Multifamily properties currently represent approximately 48% of housing units in Portland and are an increasing proportion of housing in the city. Residential, single-family properties have had curbside compost in Portland since 2011, but composting remains optional for multifamily properties due to the unique challenges of these larger buildings. Lack of compost collection creates an unequal service standard between single-family and multifamily residents in the City of Portland, while increasing the landfilling of food waste. Landfilling food waste is a lost opportunity to increase soil health and equitable food access, and it increases Portland's methane emissions.Piloting multifamily compost service will give Portland a better understanding of existing problems in implementing multifamily compost service, and potential technology inputs to improve compost participation and reduce compost contamination. Gathering survey inputs from haulers, property managers, and tenantswill provide qualitative information to assist in education and outreach for compost expansion to all multifamily properties, addressing the challenges of public opinion when new services are required. Combined with a partnership to provide free compost to local school and community gardens with Growing Gardens, piloting multifamily composting will increase circularity of food systems and help tenants see the benefit of their efforts. | The goal of this project is to gather important data to inform the future creation of a successful citywide multifamily food waste composting program, providing valuable compostable materials to community organizations, farms, and individuals while reducing food waste, emissions, and increasing soil health.Objective 1: Learn what technology additions are effective, scalable, and cost-effective means of reducing food waste in landfills and maintaining quality of compost feedstocks given the unique challenges of multifamily buildings.Properties will be provided with technology support to test effectiveness as follows:Group A: Five properties will receive compost service with no additional technology. All properties will have twice weekly pickup.Group B: Five properties will have compost service and each household unit provided with a caddy to assist in carrying compost to the enclosure space. All properties will have twice weekly pickup.Group C: Five properties will be provided with MetroStor containers to house their roll carts, which may eliminate some of the composting concerns like not having large-enough enclosure spaces. All properties will have twice weekly pickup.Group D: Five properties will have both MetroStor containers and caddies for each household unit. All properties will have twice- weekly pickup.Group E: Five properties will have an in-home composter (The Mill) at each household unit, which will reduce smells and the space and weight of compost by 80%, necessitating only once monthly pickup.Effectiveness will be tested through compost and garbage audits, each done three times per property over the course of their compost service.Objective 2: Better understand what, if any, logistics and infrastructure characteristics contribute to successful composting at multifamily properties and how these compare to typical enclosures in Portland, allowing us to create data-informed enclosure requirements for new developments.40 properties' enclosures will be characterized.Objective 3: Identify operational strategies that open opportunities to keep food waste in the region for use on local farms, especially those within the region that are owned or managed by farmers of color, thereby increasing the circularity of local and regional food systems.Through partnership with Growing Gardens, we will identify localcommunity gardens to receive compost material created through the municipal compost program.Objective 4: Reduce food waste entering landfills, thereby reducing methane emissions.By providing compost service and education to approximately 600 households for a calendar year, we will help avoid the related food-waste methane emissions fromthe landfill. With the data collected during this pilot, we will be better ableto explore expanding our single-family compost program to include multifamily properties.Objective 5: Provide food-waste prevention strategies and education to multifamily residents as a part of the compost pilot implementation and outreach. The EPA's Wasted Food Scale prioritizes preventing wasted food before donating, composting, or anaerobic digestion. Portland already includes food saving education as part of our regular composting education to single-family households and restaurants.This pilot will provide every multifamily household of the pilot with food-waste prevention strategies and education that highlight the importance of preventing waste before composting, expanding this outreach strategy to new, multifamily households. |
| The Cook County Community Food Scrap Drop-Off Program and the Food Waste Prevention and Diversion Marketing Campaign | 1033479 | COOK COUNTY | 03/01/2025 | 02/28/2027 | ACTIVE | Cook County is the second-most-populous county in the United States. With a population of 5.2 million residents, Cook County is the home to over 40% of the state's population. Cook County demographics include: 760,000 residents who are food insecure; over 35% of the homes speak languages other than English; 13% of the population is living in poverty; 6.7% of the adult population is unemployed.The Cook County Department of Environment & Sustainability (DES) has planning and regulatory authority over suburban Cook County, including 133 municipalities. DES has been a regional leader advocating for diverting materials, especially food scraps, away from regional landfills for over a decade. The updated "Cook County Solid Waste Management Plan 2024-2029: The Path Toward Zero Waste and A Circular Economy" provides DES the roadmap to dramatically reduce the climate impacts caused by landfilled waste and provides direction for DES's waste prevention, reduction, reassembly, remanufacturing, reuse, repair, repurpose, recycling, composting, collection and other solid waste related investments, policies and practices over the next five years. The update plan promotes and advances the EPA Wasted Food Scale recommendations. These recommendations provide alternatives to landfilling, such as: (1) preventing wasted food, (2) feeding people through donations or upcycle activities, (3) feeding animals, (4) composting and (5) anaerobic digestion. DES commits to ensure that all municipalities in the county have access to a food composting related program by 2030.According to the IL EPA, food scraps comprise about 20% of municipal solid waste in IL landfills. This would mean that based on 2022 Cook County landfill tonnage data and using the EPA WARM tool to estimate GHG emissions, Cook County transferred an estimated 311,386 tons of food scraps to landfills in 2022. This generated 156,148.32 MTCO2E. When analyzing the regional makeup of this data (northern suburbs, western suburbs, southern suburbs, and the City of Chicago), DES found that the south suburbs transferred an estimated 56,984.4 tons of food scraps to landfills. This generated 28,575.52 MTCO2E.Unlike the City of Chicago and many municipalities in the northern and western suburbs of Cook County, there are currently no municipal food scrap composting programs (i.e., food scrap composting drop-off site, curbside food scrap composting program and/or comingled yard waste and food scrap program) for any of the fifty-one (51) south suburban municipalities. To address these environmental and regional problems, Cook County will create the 1st food scrap drop-off program for south suburbs municipalities. This program includes establishing a permanent drop-off site for south suburban residents to dispose of their food scraps, providing free food scrap containers to the first 1,400 residents who sign up for the program, providing free food scrap carts for the first 100 colleges, public schools, public libraries and non-profits that sign-up for this program, and establishing a paid student internship program that will help conduct outreach in support of this program. Finally, Cook County will create one of the largest food waste prevention and diversion marketing campaigns for the entire County. This campaign will help educate all Cook County residents about the importance of food waste prevention, as well as promote alternatives to help divert food waste from regional landfills.The drop-off program will have the capability of diverting at least 200 tons of food scraps away from regional landfills. Using the EPA Waste Reduction Model (WARM) tool, this would eliminate nearly 70 MTCOSE annually. The drop-off program advances racial equity and environmental justice by serving municipalities whose population consists mostly of African Americans and Latino Americans. The drop-off program is also targeting municipalities that have high CDC EJI scores and high Cook County SVI scores. Thus, the 1,500 free food scrap carts and containers that will be provided as part of this program will be going to these same residents or institutions that serve these residents. The food scraps collected from the drop-off program will be sent to an anaerobic digester that will use that material to create nutrient-dense compost that will be used at local urban farms that provide healthy food and no or very little cost to mostly Black and Latino residents, who live in communities plagued with food deserts.The marketing campaign will help the entire county reduce food being wasted and landfilled. Thus, helping to reduce the region's carbon emissions. The marketing campaign will also provide all residents, especially those who live in EJI communities, the necessary information and tools to make better informed purchasing and waste management decisions, and/or knowledge of where donated food can be sent. | Reducing the amount of food being sent to regional landfills: Cook County will achieve reducing the amount of food being sent to regional landfills by providing suburban Cook County residents with a food scrap drop-off program. This program includes giving residents, public schools, public libraries, colleges, and other non-profits a permanent location where they can dispose of their food scraps. This location will be at the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM Center) at the South Suburban College (SSC) in South Holland, IL. SSC is a public community college that serves over 4,000 students. SSC is conveniently located in the middle of most south suburban municipalities. The CHaRM Center is opened every Tuesday and Thursday of the week and every 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month. Cook County will also provide the first 1,400 residents, and 100 public schools/public libraries/colleges/non-profits, that sign-up for this program a free containers or carts that they can use to bring their food scraps to the CHaRM Center. Cook County will partner with non-profit Seven Generations Ahead (SGA) in the execution of the Food Scrap Drop-Off Program. SGA's has extensive experience implementing similar food scrap programs in the western suburbs of Cook County. The expertise of SGA will ensure that this program for the southern suburbs is run smoothly and effectively. In addition, Cook County will fund SSC to establish a paid zero-waste student internship program to support SGA and the CHaRM Center in the implementation of this program. These student interns will receive the necessary education and training to be ambassadors of this program to local communities as the County works to engage residents in this program.Increasing the amount of edible food that can be transferred to people in need: Cook County will increase the amount of edible food that can be transferred to people in need by adding a permanent weather-controlled storage container at the CHaRM Center so residents and businesses can bring perishable and non-perishable food. These food items will then be transferred to local homeless shelters, food pantries, and other food programs that serve families who are food insecure. This program is designed to help residents and businesses donate food to the 760,000 people in Chicagoland who are food insecure instead of discarding food they no longer need.Creating nutrient-dense compost that can be returned to local communities, and renewable natural gas (RNG) that can go into the local energy grid: Cook County will create nutrient-dense compost and renewable natural gas (RNG) by transferring all the food that is collected from the Food Drop-Off Program at the CHaRM Center to the Green Era Campus (GEC). GEC has the only Illinois EPA permitted food scrap anaerobic digester in Cook County. This anaerobic digester can make compost and RNG from food scraps. GEC provides the Urban Growers Collective (UGC) with all their nutrient-rich compost. UGC is a Black and women led nonprofit that manages all of GEC's programming, community engagement, and garden center. In addition, UGC has an urban farm and uses the compost from the GEC to provide healthy, affordable, fresh produce back to Cook County residents. The RNG made at the GEC is a carbon-negative energy source because it is created from organic waste that is continuously produced and is naturally occurring as part of the decomposition process. GEC's RNG is directly injected into the local natural gas pipeline, blending with the overall gas supply to help decarbonize the grid. RNG functions identically to conventional natural gas, making it fully compatible with existing infrastructure, pipelines, and appliances without requiring any modifications.Helping to expand a new constituency in Cook County dedicated to implementing better waste management practices, like recycling and composting: Cook County will help expand a new constituency in Cook County dedicated to implementing better waste management practices, like recycling and composting by conducting a comprehensive food waste prevention and diversion marketing campaign for the entire County. Cook County will partner with the SSC: Office of Public Relations in the implementation of this marketing and advertisement campaign. This includes promoting the South Suburban Cook County Food Scrap Drop-Off Program to south suburban Cook County residents, public schools, public libraries, and area non-profits, with advertisements on local transit stations (trains and buses), home flyers and postcard mailers, billboards, newspapers, radio PSAs, and social media targeted advertisements. This campaign will also provide direct marketing and advertisements in the City of Chicago and to other Cook County residents in the northern and western suburbs, to support/promote food waste prevention and diversion strategies. This includes educational information about general source reduction techniques, locations and programs around the County to recycle, donate food, and locations and programs around the County that accept food scraps for composting and/or anaerobic digestion. These marketing and advertisements will also be strategically located on billboards, TV and Radio PSAs, newspapers, and targeted social media advertisements. |
| Kane County Composts | 1033456 | COUNTY OF KANE | 03/01/2025 | 02/28/2027 | ACTIVE | Kane County, Illinois, often considered a far Chicago suburb, is actually a diverse place with large urban centers, smaller suburban towns and villages, and outlying rural areas. Unfortunately, the diversion of non-edible food waste generated in Kane County away from landfills is still in its infancy. There has been some progress towards robust composting material from residences. Landscape waste has been banned from landfills in Illinois for decades, and many residential waste hauling contracts now allow residents to mix food scraps with yard waste for composting during the eight-month collection season. However, composting among large institutional food waste generators in the County is lacking. Generally speaking, there is no culture of composting in the County, meaning that existing programs are likely underutilized by the public.The first goal of the proposed project is to begin composting programs for inedible food waste at four large facilities in the county: 1) Kane County's Adult Justice Center; 2) Northern Illinois Food Bank; 3) Northwestern Medicine Field; and 4) Advocate Sherman Hospital. The second goal is to help fill gaps in the availability in residential composting by offering a seasonal public drop-off. Our third goal is to nurture a culture of composting through a "Kane County Composts" public education and marketing campaign, which will become a sister brand to the already popular and widely recognized "Kane County Recycles" brand and campaign. Successful implementation of this project will help normalize composting in the county and will send a clear message to private sector food scrap haulers, which are based close to Chicago and have sometimes been reticent to service outlying areas, that there is a market for their services in Kane County. The fourth and final goal is to improve small agricultural producers' and community gardens' access to compost by coordinating a give-away event. These goals are very strongly aligned with the primary CFWR goals of reducing food waste, diverting food waste from landfills, and increasing local producers' access to compost. In addition to meeting CFWR goals, this project will help the County make major progress toward meeting the goals of its Solid Waste Management Plan and recently adopted Climate Action Implementation Plan.We feel strongly that due to the ambitious scope of our proposal and the broad reach of some of our partner organizations, serving the whole County and beyond, the project will impact every zip code in Kane County. However, tasked with identifying a few, we list the following:60123, Elgin, IL (where Advocate Sherman Hospital is located), urban, parts of this zip code are disadvantaged according to the U.S. EPA Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool60134, Geneva, IL (where Northern IL Food Bank, Northwest Medicine Field and the Kane County Recycling Center are located), primarily suburban, not a disadvantaged area, but the Food Bank works to address hunger in disadvantaged areas60175, St. Charles, IL (where the Kane County Adult Justice Center is located), primarily suburban and rural, not disadvantaged, but the AJC serves disadvantaged communitiesWe are committed to making sure that the educational and informational components of this program are accessible to the majority of Kane County residents by providing Spanish language translation on all major outputs. We are also committed to demonstrating success during the grant period in order to secure ongoing funding to maintain diversion and education efforts. | Goal 1: Demonstrate institutional level separated collection and composting/biodigestion of inedible food wasteObjective 1.1: Begin separation of inedible food scrap at four large food waste producing institutionsObjective 1.2: Prevent 1,060,000 lbs. per year of inedible food scrap from institutions from going to landfillsObjective 1.3: Divert 260,000 lbs per year of inedible food waste from institutions to compost facilitiesObjective 1.4: Divert 800,000 lbs per year of inedible food waste from institutions to anaerobic digester facilities that incorporate beneficial use of biogas and/or residual solids in their operationsObjective 1.5: Prevent approximately 505 MTCO2e greenhouse gas emissions per year through composting or anaerobic digestion with methane recovery from inedible food waste from institutionsGoal 2: Demonstrate winter season public drop-off for separated food scrapsObjective 2.1: At least 1,000 individuals or organizations drop material off at the collection point each seasonObjective 2.2: Prevent 4,500 lbs per season of food waste from the public from going to landfillsObjective 2.3: Divert 4,500 lbs per year of food waste from the public to compost facilitiesObjective 2.4: Prevent approximately 2.1 MTCO2e greenhouse gas emissions per year by composting of food scraps dropped off by the publicGoal 3: Build a culture of composting in Kane CountyObjective 3.1: Initiate and develop a "Kane County Composts" social marketing brand and integrate it into web, social media and print messagingObjective 3.2: Develop visual guide to collecting and transporting food waste to help build comfort with using the public drop off point and combined yard waste and food scrap curbside collection programsObjective 3.3: Develop a how-to guide and associated training for institutions and businesses based off our experiences implementing Goal 1 to help improve project transferabilityObjective 3.4: Engage at least five organizations or businesses with food scrap recycling education or training during the project periodObjective 3.5: At least 200 individuals are directly educated on food waste reductionObjective 3.6: Work with at least three municipalities to improve the quality of information about food scrap inclusion in yard waste curbside programs on their websites during the project periodGoal 4: Improve agricultural producer access to finished compost as a soil amendmentObjective 4.1: Host a spring compost give-away for producersObjective 4.2: At least four agricultural producers, including community and school gardens, receive compost through the give-awayObjective 4.3: At least 6,000 lbs. of compost is distributed to agricultural producers during the give-away |
| Sustainable Small Chillers for Agricultural and Rural Applications | 1032958 | ENERGY CONCEPTS COMPANY, LLC | 09/01/2024 | 08/31/2026 | ACTIVE | This project will develop an innovative refrigeration cycle to allow small scale refrigeration. The innovations expand on the ubiquitous Diffusion Absorption Cycle (DAC) already used in millions of camper vans. These units can be powered by heat from renewable energy sources such as solar thermal, waste heat, biogas, or biomass. The chiller has no moving parts and uses refrigerants with no global warming and zero ozone-depleting potential. The innovative Diffusion Absorption Cycle with Generator Rectifier (DACGR) provides higher efficiency, higher capacity and wider operating range than DAC. This will enable walk-in size or larger coolers and allows sub-freezing temperatures. Other applications, such as air conditioning, heat pumping, transport refrigeration, medical storage, ice making; and drying, are also possible. DACGR will benefit rural and agricultural communities, with less reliable grid electricity and/or high utility rates.Phase I testing demonstrated the bubble pump (a key component of the DACGR), and benefits of the novel generator/rectifier. In Phase II the full DACGR will be modeled, designed, fabricated, and tested. Application of DACGR with cold storage and anaerobic digester will be modeled.Energy Concepts is a world leader in absorption, and will apply expertise from industrial applications to the smaller DACGR. University of Alaska, plus Alaska Center for Energy and Power, has interest in promoting energy efficiency, renewable energy, sustainability, and resilience in rural Alaskan communities. With guidance from LARTA, ECC and its commercialization partners - Artic Solar; Solar Polar; NREL; Gaia Energy Research; and E3Tec- will turn this innovation into successful commercial product(s). | The new cycle, called Diffusion Absorption Chiller with Generator Rectification (DACGR) applies innovations Energy Concepts has developed for other, larger scale traditional absorption cycles, to the smaller scale DAC cycle. Basic cycle improvements that were proven out on lab bench apparatus in Phase I will be fabricated into a full scale, working prototype in Phase 2. A complete chiller cycle will be modeled, using the different options for heat input. Overall system interactions will be modeled, including anaerobic digester providing methane to the chiller, and solar thermal integration. Techno-economic analysis will be performed to quantify the costs and benefits of the new DACGR chiller for several types of community. The project team will reach out to key stakeholders in the propane refrigeration community to develop a commercialization plan to ensure a clear path forward to a viable commercial product.? |
| ASD WEED MANAGE - Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation Weed Management for a Successful Transition to Organic Specialty Crop Production | 1032922 | THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY | 09/01/2024 | 08/31/2028 | ACTIVE | Weeds are among the major factors limiting yield in organic vegetable and other horticultural crop systems and their management is particularly challenging in organic crops. The lack of effective biological weed management solutions is a major obstacle to the adoption of organic farming practices and represents a key limitation to the expansion of the industry despite the continuous growth of the U.S. organic market.Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation (ASD) is emerging as a broad-spectrum biological soil treatment for the management of soilborne pests and pathogens, including weeds. Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation also known as Biological Soil Disinfestation is a microbial-driven process based on the use of organic amendments.Integrated a series of research and extension activities, the primary goal of this project is to increase the profitability and sustainability of organic vegetable and other specialty crop production systems and to facilitate the transition from conventional to organic production practices by optimizing and integrating the use of Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation as a biological weed management tactic in specialty crops systems, while promoting soil health.Coordinated research activities and on-farm demonstration trials will be conducted to optimize and integrate Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation into organic specialty crop systems and evaluate the efficacy of ASD in suppressing key weed species in Florida and Pennsylvania, two states representative of the U.S. Northeast and Southeast regions.Besides assessing the efficacy of Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation in suppressing specific weeds, the project will allow us to investigate the impact of ASD on the soil-plant nutrient dynamics and investigate the mechanism of suppression examining the impact of the treatment on the soil microbiome. To ensure the viability of ASD we will assess its economic sustainability and will assess any obstacle to the adoption of this new biological solution. The research-based knowledge generated through the project on ASD will be disseminated via local, regional, and national level Extension activities (on-farm demonstrations, field days, presentations at growers' meetings, in-service training, seminars, webinars), along with the publication of educational material (fact-sheets, newsletters, magazine, and research articles), contributing to the transfer of ASD principals and practical application to organic specialty crop growers as a sustainable weed management strategy. | The primary project goal is to increase the profitability and sustainability of organic specialty crop production systems and to facilitate the transition from conventional to organic production practices by optimizing and integrating the use of Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation (ASD) as a biological weed management tactic in specialty crops systemswhile promoting soil health.The specific objectives proposed are to:1) Optimize and evaluate the efficacy of ASD as a biological solution for the management of weeds in organic and transitioning to organic specialty crops systems representative of the U.S. Northeast and Southeast.2) Evaluate the impact of ASD applied using alternative organic amendments on soil ecology and microbiome dynamics and seed-associated microbiome in organic and transitioning to organic specialty crops systems examining the effect on nutrient dynamics and overall soil health.3) Investigate the mechanism of weed suppression using targeted and non-targeted soil metabolomic analysis techniques.4) Evaluate the economic viability and identify barriers to the adoption and integration of ASD in organic and transitioning to organic specialty crop systems.5) Conduct on-farm ASD demonstrations for weed management and a range of outreach activities employing multiple extension delivery methods to transfer science-based knowledge on ASD and promote its adoption for the management of weeds while promoting soil health in organic and transitioning to organic specialty crop systems. |
| PARTNERSHIP: Sustainable Processing of Food Waste to High Value Energy Storage Material | 1032415 | OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION | 07/01/2024 | 06/30/2027 | ACTIVE | More than a third of the food produced in the United States goes uneaten, squandering energy, water, and space in landfills while contributing to methane emissions and water pollution from agricultural practices. This waste occurs at every stage of the food chain, from cultivation to consumption by households and the food service industry. Food waste contains five major components i.e., carbohydrates, proteins, extractives, lignin, and lipids. These components are renewable resources to manufacture bioproducts. It can drive circularity by providing an alternative to making, using, and disposing of paradigm and keeping resources in use for as long as possible, extracting maximum value.This project will engineer a robust and scalable processing platform for converting food waste to high surface area carbon which can be used in supercapacitors. The process will apply a geo-mimic hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) method to capture organic carbon containing in food waste in solid form termed as hydrochar. Subsequently, hydrochar will be thermo-chemically activated to high surface area carbon (>1000 m2/g) which will be characterized for its energy storage properties. The wastewater generated during the HTC process will be biologically treated by cultivating marine protist biomass. The treated water can be recycled for conducting HTC process whereas generated biomass from biological treatment will be used for making hydrochar along with food waste.The end goal of the project is to demonstrate an environmentally benign food waste valorization process to high surface area carbon material and a way to reduce the disposal costs of the food waste stream by more than 40% compared to conventional anaerobic digestion.A combination of experimental and modelling approach will be adopted for optimizing the proposed food waste valorization process. The process parameters will be used for developing techno-economic model to understand the economic viability of the proposed process in comparison to existing food waste valorization methods. The life cycle assessment analyses will inform the greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts of the project. The scientific outcomes from this project will be disseminated to scientific audiences through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations/posters. Whereas outreach activities including workshops and community engagements will help educating local communities, pre-college students, and industry stakeholders. | The major goal of the project is to develop a robust and scalable processing platform for converting food waste to a marketable product (high surface area carbon) for its application in supercapacitor. A hybrid processing approach is proposed by integrating hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) process and unique marine protist, Thraustochytrium striatum cultivation.The cultivated protist biomass is recycled to HTC reactor to maximize the carbon recovery which ultimately increases the yield of hydrochar. A chemical/thermal activation process is applied to hydrochar to convert it to high surface area carbon which has application in supercapacitors. Besides hydrochar, the proposed HTC process produces aqueous phase (HTC-AP) containing dissolved organic compounds and nutrients (N & P). A modular system for protist biomass cultivation using HTC-AP is another goal of this project. It is required to maximize the carbon recovery from food waste and use the solubilized nutrients for protist biomass cultivation.The research objectives of this proposal include:Objective 1: Process simulation, optimization, and predictive modeling of HTC process for food waste conversion to hydrochar.Objective 2: Reduce metal impurities in hydrochar by applying a novel ultrasound-assisted leaching (UAL) process using acetic acid.Objective 3: Develop a novel thermal/chemical treatment process for converting hydrochar to a high surface area carbon for supercapacitor application.Objective 4: Study the biological treatment of the food waste-derived HTC-AP using suspended and granulated marine protist.Objective 5: Scale up studies, techno-economic, and life cycle assessment (TEA and LCA) of the proposed process.Objective 6: Develop outreach programs for the education and broader impacts to community.By the end of the project, we will demonstrate the entire integrated operation for food waste conversion to high surface area carbon electrode under the realistic conditions with a much higher (>50%) overall carbon conversion efficiency and demonstrate a way to reduce the disposal costs of the food waste stream by more than 40% compared to conventional anaerobic digestion. |
| Comparing The Impact Of Blueberry Cultivars With Different Levels Of Chlorogenic Acid On Trimethylamine-N Oxide Production And Its Associated Metabolic Complications | 1032123 | NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY | 06/01/2024 | 05/31/2027 | ACTIVE | Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is a harmful metabolite derived from gut bacteria. Circulating levels of TMAO are positively associated with atherosclerosis risk. Cardiovascular disease, including atherosclerosis, is the leading cause of death worldwide. No drugs are approved to lower TMAO. Strategies such as diet represent our best bet for controlling TMAO. Dietary phenolics have shown potential for beneficially altering gut bacterial communities and metabolism. One such compound is chlorogenic acid, found in foods such as blueberries. Our preliminary data suggest that chlorogenic acid-rich blueberries reduce TMO levels in vivo. However, chlorogenic acid content varies widely in blueberry cultivars. We hypothesize that the chlorogenic acid content of blueberries corresponds to their TMAO-lowering and cardioprotective effects. We propose to use in vitro and in vivo studies to determine the relationship between the chlorogenic acid content of blueberries and their TMAO-lowering and anti-atherosclerosis activities. The rationale for this work is that understanding whether the chlorogenic acid content of foods correspond to their efficacy for lowering TMAO can lead to healthier dietary patterns in at-risk individuals and the population, and that breeders can use these data to breed chlorogenic acid-rich cultivars. The long-term effects of such patterns may reduce cardiovascular disease burden and increase quality of life at the individual and population levels. This application responds to Program Area Priority 3d (Food and Human Health) by investigating the impact of food components (blueberry chlorogenic acid) on the gut microbiome and its metabolites (bacterial-derived TMAO) and how this relates to human health (prevention of atherosclerosis). | Cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes ~32% of deaths worldwide. There is an urgent need to develop complementary strategies across diet, lifestyle, and medicine to reduce CVD incidence and burden. Elevated blood trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) concentrations increase atherosclerosis risk. TMAO is formed through a microbial-host axis involving release of trimethylamine (TMA) from choline by specific gut bacteria containing the cutC/D gene cluster, which encodes choline TMA lyase. TMA is absorbed into the circulation and then oxidized to TMAO by hepatic flavin-containing monooxygenase 3 (FMO3). TMAO is thought to promote the development of atherosclerosis. There is no FDA-approved drug to lower TMAO levels, underscoring the need for complementary strategies to manage TMAO production. Interest is emerging in the TMAO-lowering activities of dietary phenolics. Phenolics may reduce TMAO levels by reducing the abundance of bacterial genera that convert choline to TMA, or direct inhibition of TMA lyase. Through our ex vivo-in vitro anaerobic fecal fermentation and in vivo mouse studies, we identified chlorogenic acid (CGA) as a TMA production inhibitor. Blueberries are rich in CGA and have known cardioprotective benefits. CGA has been evaluated as a TMA/TMAO production inhibitor in a few pre-clinical studies. Our preliminary data indicate that CGA inhibits choline conversion to TMA in a dose-dependent manner. Importantly, levels of CGA vary widely across blueberry cultivars, but it is unknown whether variation in CGA level contributes to different TMAO-lowering and cardioprotective activities from blueberries. Further data are required to confirm the potential of CGA-rich blueberries as TMA/TMAO production inhibitors in vivo and to determine if more CGA content imparts greater activity. To advance our ability to employ CGA-rich blueberries to lower circulating TMAO and reduce atherosclerosis risk, it is critical that we determine whether CGA levels in blueberries determine their efficacy and elucidate the mechanism(s) by which this occursOur overall objective is to evaluate whether CGA is a key bioactive that enables blueberries to inhibit formation of the pro-atherogenic gut microbial metabolite TMAO (and its precursor, TMA) when consumed. Our central hypothesis is that CGA content is a primary determinant of the TMAO-lowering benefits of blueberries. Our specific objectives are to:Determine if blueberry CGA content predicts reduced TMAO formation and atherosclerosis when cultivars with >10-fold difference in CGA are administered to rodents;Determine whether CGA content correlates with reduced TMA production in multiple blueberry accessions from a genetic diversity population with a large spread of CGA in our ex vivo-in vitro human fecal fermentation model; andElucidate mechanism(s) by which CGA and CGA-rich blueberries modulate TMA formation in the gut using isolated bacteria known to carry cutC/D. |
| Bioengineering Novel Bacteriophages to Target Salmonella in Poultry Production | 1032114 | UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM | 06/01/2024 | 05/31/2027 | ACTIVE | Salmonella is a significant public health threat and economic concern as foodborne illness continues to be an overwhelming challenge in the U.S. While numerous intervention strategies are used in poultry processing to reduceSalmonellapopulations with some success, p live bird production remains a critical stepforSalmonellacontrol. Using8 to12 hour feed withdrawal (FW) before thebroilers enterthe processing plantto reduce fecal contamination appears to be a major factor to increases in Salmonella. Our research proposal represents an newway for Salmonella control with atargeted bioengineering designof a multiple phage population with an optimizedSalmonella-killingimpact that can be applied during FW to reduce most if not allSalmonella serovars and strains.Ourgeneral hypothesisis that bioengineering phages with different Salmonellaattachment sites allow for their maximum and continuous exposure to targetSalmonella preventinghorizontalSalmonellatransmissionamong birds during FW reducing Salmonella prevalence at the processing plant.Our specific objectives:Objective 1- Bioengineer bacteriophages for optimal efficacy againstSalmonellaserovars during FW.Objective 2 -Screen the resulting bioengineered phage candidates fromObjective 1against multipleSalmonellaserovars using in vitro crop and cecal incubations.Objective 3- Determine the efficacy ofSalmonellaphage cocktail identified in Objective 2 supplemented in the drinking water of commercial broilers on reducingSalmonellatransmission during FW and Salmonella load at the processing plant.The results from this research occur at a most opportune time for the meat and poultry industry as the industry is now considering bacteriophages as a potential approach for limiting pathogens. Moreover, the industry is desperate for viable options. Our collaborative approach conceptually represents a highly targeted strategy by bioengineering more efficacious phage for the poultry GIT and tailored for application during FW before poultry processing. In addition, our bioengineered phage approach represents a broad-spectrum intervention to most serovars both currently prevalent ones as well as emerging serovars. Poultry is only the beginning. Salmonella is also prevalent in swine, cattle, and nonmeat foods such as vegetables. With traditional interventions, Salmonella can be especially difficult to tackle in swine and cattle once they invade deep tissues where phage application could be practical. Finally, from more of a long-term standpoint, this approach opens the floodgates to tackle other pathogens which are also highly problematic for the poultry industry, such as Campylobacter, which resides in the chicken gut as part of the microbiome and is nearly impossible to target with antimicrobials. | Salmonella is a significant public health threat and economic concern as foodborne illness continues to be an overwhelming challenge in the U.S. Every year, human salmonellosis accounts for the highest number of outbreaks, illnesses, hospitalizations, and the second-highest deaths. Poultry remains the primary source of salmonellosis, accounting for 25% of the outbreaks. While numerous intervention strategies are used in poultry processing to reduceSalmonellapopulations with some success, bacterial burden and transmission duringpre-harvest live bird production remain the primary challenges forSalmonellacontrol. The management practice of 8-12 hour feed withdrawal (FW) prior to transporting broilers to the processing plant in order to reduce fecal contamination appears to be a major contributing factor to increases in Salmonella in flocks entering the processing plant. Our research proposal represents an entirelyinnovativeand radical way of tackling pathogen control with atargeted bioengineering designof a multiple phage population with an optimizedSalmonella-killingimpact that can be administered during FW to reduce most if not allSalmonella serovars and strains.Ourgeneral hypothesisis that bioengineering phages with different Salmonellaattachment sites allow for their maximum and continuous exposure to targetSalmonella and would preventhorizontalSalmonellatransmissionamong birds during FW and transportation to the processing plant, thereby reducing Salmonella prevalence at the processing plant.We plan to execute this proposal with specific objectives:Objective 1- Bioengineer bacteriophages for optimal efficacy againstSalmonellaserovars during FW and establish dosage levels.Objective 2 -Screen the resulting bioengineered phage candidates fromObjective 1against multipleSalmonellaserovars using in vitro crop and cecal incubations.Objective 3- Determine the efficacy ofSalmonellaphage cocktail identified in Objective 2 supplemented in the drinking water of commercial broilers on reducingSalmonellatransmission during FW and Salmonella load at the processing plant. |
| Practical Methods for Enhancing Productivity, Sustainability, and Profitability of Marine Aquaculture Systems to Grow Healthy Food | 1031988 | KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY | 05/01/2024 | 04/30/2027 | ACTIVE | Recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) have reached the point where they can be used to sustainably produce seafood in interior states, providing healthy, fresh, locally-grown fish to consumers who otherwise cannot acquire it. However, there remains room for improvement in RAS technology and species development. Shrimp farming in the US has been gaining some popularity and olive flounder are a species that performs well in other countries, but is not grown in the US. This project has three objectives: 1.) Increase production of shrimp and flounder in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) to improve profitability, 2.) increase the environmental sustainability of RAS and lower it's carbon footprint, and 3.) develop an understanding of consumers' perceptions and sensory reactions to seafood produced in various RAS environments. Under objective 1, we will push the limits of shrimp stocking density in RAS, expand the capacity of the only US flounder hatchery in the US, and evaluate the tolerance of flounder to various salinities. Under objective 2, we will evaluate the ability of vascular plants and macroalgae to assimilate nutrients and CO2 in RAS, and we will examine the production of greenhouse gases from anaerobic digesters in various environmental conditions. For objective 3, we will survey the perceptions of consumers from interior states with regard to their preferences for seafood and we will evaluate how the flounder, plants, and algae produced in this project are perceived by consumers from a sensory standpoint. This project will dramatically increase the US capacity for sustainable seafood research and production. | Objective 1. Enhance capacity to produce high-value marine fish and shrimp in RASActivity 1 will test the effects of shrimp stocking density in RAS with horizontal substrate available for the shrimpActivity 2 will center on improving the breeding program for olive flounder at UM through utilization of genomic information on individual fish to assess levels of potential inbreeding and to maximize genetic diversity amongst the broodstock populationActivity 3 will evaluate the effects of salinity on the production dynamics and stress indicator levels of flounder.Objective 2. Improve the sustainability of marine RAS through gas and nutrient captureActivity 1 will examine the effects of salinity on nutrient assimilation rates of vascular plant and macroalgae species used to remediate RAS water.Activity 2 will evaluate the effects of salinity on composition of gases produced by anaerobic sludge digestersObjective 3. Examine consumer perceptions of marine RAS productsActivity 1: Marine RAS acceptance survey.Activity 2: Taste test of marine RAS products. |
| Nixyaawii, Awku Cawpam Akaatta!: "Nixyaawii, Don't Throw it Away!" | 1031887 | UMATILLA INDIAN RESERVATION | 06/01/2024 | 05/31/2026 | ACTIVE | Statement of Need: Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) Tribes are a place-based cultures, and celebrations of seasonal returns of culturally important First Foods include food preparation, feasting, and cleaning up, typically hosted by the Nixyaawii Longhouse for the benefit of the Community. Waste is generated as part of these joyful events, including food waste. Improving food waste recapture has been identified as a priority within community-identified strategic plans for CTUIR. Project goals and expected outcomes align with CTUIR long-term strategic planning, including within CTUIR Climate Adaptation Plan (2022) Goals: 3C.E: Strengthen opportunities to divert materials from landfills; and 3E.A: Support and Expand CTUIR Renewable Energy Generation Potential. ProposedProject Goals:1. Nixyaawii Food Waste Assessment2. Improve Community Capacity3. Biogas Generator and OutputsTimeline: 2 years - (est) Jan 31, 2024 to Jan 31, 2026Project Funding Request: $230,029 total project cost ($172,521 federal share; $57,508 CTUIR Match)Target Audience: The target audience for our food waste recovery project is the CTUIR Community at the Nixyaawwii (Mission) community core, specifically those participating with food and feasting activities at one or more of the project Host Sites. End users for biogas digester Outputs are also within this community core, with residential and community gardens being the intended compost product end users.Connection to Efforts: This project initiates and expands on modest efforts by members of the CTUIR Community to improve waste management and diversion of food waste from Tribal government facilities. Project work plan includes scope of work and capacity funding to develop dedicated FTE and equipment to address these initial modest food waste reduction efforts.CFWR Priorities: This project addresses USDA CFWR priorities to develop and test strategies for planning and implementing food waste reduction plans by initiating a baseline assessment for food waste reduction and renewable energy demonstration for food waste-based biogas development. This project meets CFWR Food Waste Reduction, Composting and Conservation Objectives, as well as Racial Equity, Investment in Underserved Communities, and Climate Mitigation priorities. EPA Food Recovery Hierarchy priority of Industrial Use and Composting are components of this project. | This project's overarching goal is to assess and divert food waste at a reasonable scale, and to provide a demonstration for future expansion of these efforts. The goal of this project is to:1. Develop a Nixyaawii Food Waste Assessment (FWA) Report that estimates current food waste quantities;2. Build community capacity to implement food waste reduction strategies at CTUIR facilities and family residences; and3. Implement a Biogas Digester demonstration project, to collect and utilize food waste to create direct use cooking fuel.This project supports and addresses EPA Priorities through:- Use of food waste for Industrial purposes- Reducing methane and other greenhouse gases generated from food waste in landfills- Improves community access to fresh food and soil amendments- Improves soil and water quality through biological materials reclamation- Improves Community resilience in energy and food systems |
| Municipality of Princeton Food Waste Drop Off Program | 1031854 | PRINCETON | 06/01/2024 | 05/31/2026 | ACTIVE | Food scraps are approximately one-fourth of Princeton's solid waste stream. Organic waste, like food scraps, that decomposes in a landfill produces methane. A potent greenhouse gas, methane traps heat in the atmosphere and is 30 times more damaging than CO2 on a 100-year time scale. However, food scraps are a valuable material if properly collected and composted or digested. Princeton is fortunate to be located near Trenton Renewables, an anaerobic digestion facility that converts food scraps into energy and soil amendments.The Municipality of Princeton and its residents are committed to sustainability and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as shown by the successful pilot by launching a community-wide food scraps drop-off program. With this grant, Princeton will expand its pilot drop-off collection program from two to twelve food scrap drop sites around the Municipality and transport an estimated 156 tons of food scraps to Trenton Renewables annually. The overarching goal of Princeton's food scraps drop-off program is to equitably and sustainably divert residential food waste from the landfill. Careful consideration of drop site locations will ensure greater access and reduce barriers to participation. Drop sites will be free to all residents and will be located in locations where people live, work, and shop. All residents - homeowners, renters, and those residing in multi-family developments - will be encouraged to participate. Special consideration will be given to ensure participation by Princeton's vulnerable populations. Promotional materials, signs, and welcome kits will be provided in multiple languages, to invite participation by all. | The overarching goal of Princeton's food waste drop-off program is to divert residential food waste from the landfill equitably and sustainably.Supporting objectives include:Establish a program to divert an estimated 156 tons of food scraps per year from the landfill to the Trenton Renewables anaerobic digestion facility.This program will establish ten free food waste drop-off locations throughout the municipality. Last fall, Princeton launched a pilot program with two drop-off locations. Thus far, 168 registrants have registered for the two sites, and approximately 0.5 tons of food scraps are collected and transferred each week. This grant will allow for the expansion of this successful pilot. The additional ten sites will be selected by the Public Works Department, in consultation with project partners Sustainable Princeton and the Princeton Environmental Commission. Site selection will prioritize access to underserved populations and consider multi-family developments, affordable housing, public schools, private shopping centers, and other facilities within Princeton.Selected drop-off sites will be outfitted with one large all-weather shed containing two 64-gallon sealed waste carts. The sheds will be locked with a simple combination lock that is accessible to residents who register for the program, pass the quiz, and are randomly selected for the program. Drop-off sites will initially be limited to 100 registered participants each to manage material volume and potential contamination but will be expanded if capacity allows.Informational signage will be displayed on the sheds to help participants understand the program and comply with the list of acceptable food scrap items. Twice a week, the filled carts will be removed and replaced with clean empty carts by Municipal Public Works staff. Public Works staff will transport the filled carts to Trenton Renewables which is located less than 25 miles from the drop-off locations. The filled carts will be dropped off, and clean empty carts will be returned to Princeton.Princeton's Project Manager will collaborate with project partner Sustainable Princeton to provide education and outreach to community members prior to the sign-up/registration period, before the program launch, and ongoing throughout the program.Measure and publicize the emissions reductions by diverting food scraps from the landfill to the anaerobic digestion facility using the US Environmental Protection Agency's WARM tool and Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.Project Partner, Sustainable Princeton, uses the EPA's WARM tool to provide high-level estimates of the GHG emissions of food waste going to the landfill (baseline) compared to food waste diversion via anaerobic digestion. Emission reductions can be compared to seedlings grown or gallons of gasoline to help the public understand the impacts, using the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.Landfill gas is a natural byproduct of the decomposition of organic material in landfills and is composed of primarily of methane and CO2, in roughly equal parts. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas estimated to be 30 times more effective than CO2 at trapping heat in the atmosphere on a 100-year time scale. Some landfills have implemented solutions to trap and utilize landfill gas; however, the EPA estimates that landfill-to-gas (LFG) energy projects only capture roughly 60 to 90 percent of the methane emitted from the landfill. Princeton's landfill, Fairless Landfill, is understood to flare the methane, rather than use any methane capture technology.The EPA's WARM tool (Version 15) predicts that for every 2.4 tons of food waste that are diverted from the landfill, our emissions are reduced by 15.5 MTCO2e (Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent). Clearly, the diversion of an estimated 156 tons per year can have a measurable and meaningful impact on Princeton's greenhouse gas emissions, and this project aims to publicize this impact.Ensure equitable participation in the program by making it free and accessible to Princeton's overburdened community members, affordable and multifamily housing developments, and non-English speaking residents.This program will be designed to achieve broad participation by the community, including Princeton's marginalized populations. The Municipality of Princeton has ties to our underserved communities through the Human Services, Human Resources, Affordable Housing, and Health Departments. The municipality also has a strong relationship with the Witherspoon Jackson Neighborhood Neighborhood Association, the Princeton Senior Resource Center, and the Princeton Housing Authority.The food scraps drop program will be free and available to all residents, including homeowners, renters, and those in multi-family developments who do not receive the municipality's solid waste services. Multiple sites will be located around the municipality within close proximity to different neighborhoods, including overburdened communities.Working with our partner, Sustainable Princeton, this program will utilize outreach materials in our community's major languages (English, Spanish, and Mandarin). Active engagement in multiple languages through trusted community networks will be essential to achieve this objective. |
| SRLD Food Waste Diversion Project | 1031834 | Souhegan Regional Landfill District | 06/01/2024 | 05/31/2026 | ACTIVE | The focus of this project is to establish a beachhead in NH of schools and towns that show how food waste diversion and sharing can be implemented successfully. A successful outcome will be getting food waste diversion institutionalized by the 2nd or 3rd year of this project where the towns and schools make it a part of the culture.An emphasis will be made supporting areas that have a lower social-economic status and higher food insecure index. Using tools likeFeeding America, we will make sure that these communities are not left behind. From an agriculture perspective, some NH schools and towns work with farms that take the food waste and turn it into compost and feed for animals. We will make sure to strenghen that relationship through this funding.During this project, we will communicate to residents and students that food waste diversion can be cost effective for towns and schools by lessening tipping fees. It will also bolster community spirit knowing that diverting food waste from landfills is one of the best solutions to reduce our carbon footprint, protect our environment and drawdown methane from escaping into the atmosphere.One of the best methods to explain the results of this project will be storytelling. The story can be a school telling about its food waste diversion trajectory during Food Waste Prevention Week (April 10th to April 16th ) or a town's commitment to food waste diversion being featured in a local newspaper. Getting the word out that talks about positive change in a community will help to transend some of the indifference that plagues our treatment of food waste diversion and solutions that address climate change.Last, practicing food waste diversion in the schools is a great entry point to introduce climate education and get the NH department of education to follow the lead of states like NJ where climate change has been integrated into the curriculum.The ultimate goal of this project is to kick start a trend of towns funding their own food waste initiatives that will lead to the State of NH putting in organic food waste law that legally requires residents and businesses to divert food scraps from their trash. While implementing a law like this has its issues, states like Vermont have reported since its 2020 implementation of its own food waste ban, 85% of its residents are composting and 61% are reporting that they have a "moral obligation" to keep food scraps out of landfills" (UVM 2022) . This type of progress is a far better outcome for a state like New Hampshire being ranked 6th in the country ( Big Rentz, 2022) for producing new landfill waste and having one of the worst records on diverting waste from its landfills. | The major goal of this project is to establish an awareness in Southern NH of food being wasted, its implications on the environment and the opportunity to share uneaten food with the food insecure. At the school level, we will work with teachers and students to develop a routine to separate food from the trash every school day during meal service and some level of rudimentary measurement. We will also establish shared tables and mini-refrigerators to allow those who may be food insecure to not go hungry during the school day. At the town level, we will help transfer stations communicate more effectively to their residents about the harm created by food waste going to landfills and the cost to taxpayers of rising tipping fees due to waste disposal issues. Both the students and residents can benefit from having these practices implemented with each group re-enforcing the other. Students that are taught good separation practices in school will bring it home to their parents. Residents in turn will hear about the school success on community boards at the transfer station.To reach the goal of building an awareness of food waste diversion and reduction, we will follow the EPA food recovery hierarchy to achieve that overall goal with the following objectives:20% : Source reduction: Using the WWF mantra of what gets managed gets measured helps to educate teachers, students, and food service on what is wasted and thrown away. Performing audits of food waste has a profound effect on students reducing their waste by realizing what they throw away, and it helps food service determine what types of food get thrown away every week. This collaborative effort will involve nominated teachers and janitors who will be incentivized (through small stipends) and work with students on this goal.8%: Feed Hungry People: In our county of Hillsborough NH, we have over 7840 children under 18 that are food insecure. By providing refrigerators and shared tables, students and teachers can preserve good food and milk to be shared by others. Through local groups like the Rotary club, we will establish programs like "Lunch out of Landfills (https://esrag.org/lunch-out-of-landfills/) that provide mini-refrigerators for leftover food. Food that is not eaten by students will go to food banks and shelters. Hollis NH Elementary already shares its excess food (ex milk, yogurts,etc) of 4750 items with the local food pantry and 68 Hours of Hunger, a local NH nonprofit that acts as a bridge to care for children with food insecurity issues over the weekend between school days.2% / Feed Animals: Hollis elementary has already begun a program to feed excess food to a local Guinea Pig rescue center to supply them with leftover veggies that are open and technically expired so they can't be given to people.60%: Industrial Uses: We already have contracts in place with Vanguard who is our food waste hauler and takes our scraps to an anaerobic digester in Haverhill, MA. An anaerobic digester utilizes physics (energy conversion), chemistry (CH4 captured), and biology (bacteria break down organic matter--such as animal manure, wastewater biosolids, and food wastes--in the absence of oxygen). There is an opportunity to learn about turning waste to energy through this program.10%: Composting: By exposing younger students to composting in the form of composting bins at the schools, the kids learn about the variables ( ex Temperature, pH, moisture content ) and science ( the breakdown of matter) that serves as a great foundation to learning about circularity and regeneration. Certain schools may choose to use compostors like Black Earth (https://blackearthcompost.com/) and Mr Fox ( https://mrfoxcomposting.com/) who provide a pick up service for schools.The staffing required to implement this program will require 1 PTE (part time employee) to provide 20 hours a week over the school calendar year to help facilitate setting up waste collection stations, programming and promote advocacy work in the schools. A full school calendar year is 36 weeks. The total hours will vary depending upon how well the schools and towns adopt food waste diversion. Some schools that have dedicated environmental teachers will catch on quickly. Other schools will require more time. A 1.5 year commitment will result in 1,080 part time hours at 20 hours a week over a 48 week period.The person for this role is Paul Karpawich who brings 25 years of business experience and has experience in fundraising and putting in place programs in the schools and towns around food waste. Paul is a resident of Amherst, NH and is semi-retired dedicating his time to local projects that build community awareness. He is also a member of his local Rotary club that assists the schools in many ways through scholarship and mentorship. |
| Bridging gaps in production agriculture: advancements in Robotics and Automation | 1031814 | International Society of Precision Agriculture, Inc. | 02/15/2024 | 01/20/2025 | COMPLETE | The demand for food is increasing but at the same time, consumers are demanding more nutritious food that is grown sustainably. These demands are compounded by the lack of labor availability to work on the farms and the negative impacts of climate on crops. Then, the advances in digital agriculture, especially sensors and controls, machine vision, and artificial intelligence applied to robotics and automation offer numerous possibilities to address many of the challenges faced in agricultural production and to increase the productivity and efficiency of farming operations. The proposed symposium will provide participants with the opportunity to exchange knowledge, identify promising technological advances, identify research and training gaps, identify infrastructure (e.g., communications, data interoperability) needed to realize the benefits of robotics and automation, and identify opportunities for collaboration. The symposium will serve as a knowledge hub where different groups will converge to exchange expertise and identify opportunities for multidisciplinary and multi-institutional collaboration. Additionally, having the symposium running concurrently with the ICPA conference might provide participants of both events to build and strength professionalcollaboration that ultimately will benefit the applications of robotics and AI to precision agriculture. | Since the earliest commercialization of yield monitors and variable rate technology in the early 1990s, precision agriculture (PA) has struggled with the quantity of data to be analyzed, understood and acted on. To facilitate analysis and management, early PA researchers and developers aggregated data and decision making into grids or management zones for crops, and pens or grazing zones for livestock. As PA moves toward individual plant or animal management, grid, zone, and pen management will be obsolete. Robotics and automation would allow them to implement crop and livestock management at the same level of detail as their data. The challenge we face with the current development is that but most of the agricultural robotics being commercialized have very little decision making capacity. They mostly follow preprogrammed field paths. In crop farming, companies are starting to advertise artificial inteligence (AI) use in machine vision technology to target apply herbicides, in guiding fungicide application by predicting plant disease infestations and in helping combine harvester operators optimize machine settings. The agricultural sector has lagged behind other industries in embracing autonomous systems, robots, multi-sensor data fusion, big data analytics, and AI. The full realization of these technological innovations in agriculture now and in the future will require transdisciplinary collaboration efforts, development of solutions accessible to types of farmers and operations, implementation of real-time interoperability services, as well as training of the future workforce of scientists and users. The symposium we propose will provide a space where academia, industry, funding agencies, and other stakeholders can exchange knowledge on emerging trends and research and identify challenges and opportunities in the fields of automation and robotics. It will also serve as a forum to discuss opportunities for collaboration and to identify the governmental programs and infrastructure needed to realize the full potential of these innovations in agriculture. |
| Advancing Circular Agriculture through Nutrient Upcycling: Digestate as the Basis for Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizers | 1031762 | GREENTECHNOLOGIES, L.L.C. | 07/01/2024 | 02/28/2025 | COMPLETE | Alternative disposal pathways for anaerobic digestion (AD) waste byproducts (digestate) are needed to utilize this resource, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and avoid nutrient loss caused by inefficient land application, providing an opportunity to use the digestate as the basis of an enhanced efficiency fertilizer (EEF). However, raw digestate does not meet most agricultural requirements and falls short of being an EEF. With this SBIR project, GreenTechnologies, LLC (GT) will adapt patented technologies to produce organic enhanced efficiency fertilizers using the digestate as a feedstock. The application responds to research topic 8.4 Conservation of Natural Resources, with emphasis on soil health and nutrient management.The SBIR effort will culminate in the commercialization of a new category of enhanced efficiency recycled-nutrient fertilizers based on digestate. Phase I efforts will evaluate the technical feasibility of adapting GT's technologies to digestate to produce commercial fertilizers. A follow-up Phase II would then focus on using the proven technology to produce and commercialize a new line of enhanced efficiency fertilizers using regenerative feedstocks, thus replacing fossil fuel based, chemical fertilizers.Anticipated results are a new source of domestically produced EEFs and a generalized process that will be portable to other facilities or producers, tailorable to meet regional nutrient needs. Initial strategies for commercialization take advantage of GT's position in the organic fertilizer marketplace. Longer term commercialization will use the technology as the basis for strategic partnerships to broaden its practice. | GreenTechnologies proposes to upcycle digestate from anaerobic digesters into an organic based commercial enhanced efficiency fertilizer (EEF) that can be used in agricultural production. GT will utilize its nutrient enhancementand Reactive Layer Coating technologies (USA Patent No. US10384984B2, 2019) which employ macro and micro-nutrients to manufacture unique carbon-rich EEF products to improve soil health and maximize plant growth while contributing positive environmental impacts. GreenTechnologies'nutrient enhancement and mineral coating technologies simultaneously address multiple current barriers to commercialization of organic-based fertilizers.Phase I will focus on characterizing different digestates and demonstrating the feasibility of using this agricultural byproduct as the basis for enhanced efficiency fertilizer that will be effective for agricultural production.Phase I will determine the feasibility of converting digestate into an enhanced efficiency fertilizer, first defining the processing steps and specifications unique to digestate as a feedstock, then demonstrating them at a laboratory scale. The Phase I Technical Objectives are:Characterize sourced digestate: assess drying needs and analyze chemical/nutrient content.Determine target nutrient compositions based on intrinsic content and commercial needs and adapt GT's patented approaches to produce enhanced digestate-based fertilizer pellets.Analyze products and undertake laboratory nutrient release studies. |
| Modular Production of Liquid Fuels and Chemicals from Biogas | 1031745 | ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS LLC | 07/01/2024 | 02/28/2025 | COMPLETE | Advanced Energy Materials LLC proposes to demonstrate the production of methanol from biogas. ADEM will study the feasibility of its catalyst and the process for conversion of biogas to syngas and further reforming of syngas to methanol. Ultimately, ADEM plans to demonstrate an economically viable modular process using the skid mounted unit to produce methanol at 3,000 - 5,000 ton/year (for Phase II).At present biogas is just flared, frequently used in low value applications such as heating, and/or upgradation to natural gas which requires an expensive CO2 separation process. Biogas, a sustainable and renewable gaseous fuel (EPA, 2014), is suitable for direct conversion into syngas (H2 and CO) via reforming. CO2 removal from resulting syngas is not required and can be converted to methanol, which avoids cost related to gas purification. However, there are technical challenges such as: (i) the reforming catalysts (supported Ni catalysts) are thermally unstable and are not resistant to coke formation which leads to their deactivation and metal sintering. (ii) Traditional conversion of syngas to methanol is expensive. In order to overcome these challenges, ADEM developed a straightforward, medium pressure thermocatalytic process for biogas conversion to syngas and an atmospheric pressure microwave plasma catalytic process for syngas conversion to methanol involving their in-house designed and produced catalyst materials. Preliminary data shows that ADEM's catalyst is highly promising with high coke resistance and high activity for 500 h of testing. | Advanced Energy Materials LLC's (ADEM) proposes to demonstrate efficient conversion of biogas to renewable green methanol. The broad goals of the project are:1. Green methanol production leading to substantially reduced CO2 emissions.2. The use of biogas (anaerobic digesters of landfill, municipal and sewage, agriculture waste and forest residue) as feedstock to generate useful chemicals such as methanol.3. Design and develop catalyst materials that can facilitate conversion of biogas to syngas and eventually to useful chemicals such as methanol.4. Cleanup of the biogas for its impurities using ADEM's own material.The primary objectives of this Phase I project are:Objective 1. Demonstrate the feasibility of methanol production using biogas through plasma catalysis at 20 lpm/kW throughput with a single pass yield of 13% or greater.Objective 2. Show feasibility of ADEM's metal alloyed nanowire catalysts resisting coke formation and demonstrating lifetime of at least 1000 h with no loss of activity. Produce syngas with H2/CO ~ 2 through bi-reforming.Objective 3. Determine catalyst stability with trace impurities present in biogas.The results will establish the feasibility of using proposed ADEM's catalysts for bi reforming of biogas to syngas and then to produce methanol. |
| Assessing The Microbiome As A Tool For The Mitigation Of Viral Disease In Nursery Pigs | 1031642 | REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA | 12/01/2023 | 05/31/2025 | ACTIVE | Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) causes the most costly disease to swine production in the UnitedStates. Disease caused by this virus often involves secondary bacterial pathogens, which exacerbates respiratory disease andincreases antimicrobial administration in young growing pigs. Although commercial vaccines are used to reduce the effects ofPRRSV on swine health, the currently available vaccines are considered inadequate for disease control. Alternative strategiesfor control of PRRSV is needed to maintain swine health and welfare while lessening the economic effects of this disease onpork producers. The goal of this work is to investigate the gut microbiome as an alternative tool for PRRSV control due to itsimpact on the immune system and outcome after infection. Objectives of the work include investigating the effects ofmicrobiome modulation on outcome of swine with respiratory disease and identifying what beneficial microbes are associatedwith improved health. We anticipate the data generated in this project will allow us to characterize and determine the gutmicrobes which improve pig health in the presence of PRRSV. Our goal is to determine how beneficial gut microbes may beused as a preventative medicine tool to reduce the effects of respiratory disease and decrease the need for antimicrobials inswine. The impacts of this work will improve animal welfare and animal health, lessen the economic losses to producersassociated with PRRSV, and reduce the risk of antimicrobial resistance in swine. | Project goals are centered on investigating microbiome modulation as a potential tool for mitigating the effects ofpolymicrobial respiratory disease on growing pigs. The major outcome of this project is to understand what gut microbesprovide improved outcomes in pigs using a model of porcine respiratory disease complex. Overall, project outcomes includeidentifying gut microbes for improving the health and welfare of pigs with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome(PRRS) and a potential alternative tool for mitigating the effects of respiratory disease in swine. Objectives includedetermining the effects of microbiome modulation on outcome of pigs following co-infection with PRRS virus and porcinecircovirus type 2. We will compare clinical disease, mortality, virus replication, growth performance, pathology, antibodyproduction, cytokine expression, and microbiome characteristics with unmodulated co-infected controls. Gut microbesassociated with beneficial outcomes will be identified. |
| Benefits of and barriers to dynamic controlled atmosphere (DCA) storage: Analyses needed for technology uptake by the U.S. apple industry | 1031509 | CORNELL UNIVERSITY | 09/15/2023 | 09/14/2027 | ACTIVE | The goal of this project is to advance the safe adoption of dynamic controlled atmosphere (DCA) storage, a recent advance in CA technology that is based on the principle of lowering O2 concentrations to the lowest tolerated by the fruit without causing injury, thereby reducing or eliminating quality loss associated with ripening storage by the US apple industry. A team of researchers with backgrounds in horticultural, sensory, economics, and omic sciences will address factors identified by the industry advisory committee with 5 objectives: 1) To develop best management practices for handling DCA stored apple fruit, especially premium and emerging cultivars, to reduce chemical inputs, maximize quality, and minimize the risk of storage-related disorders; 2. Understand how the extreme modification of oxygen by DCA affects respiratory metabolism, ripening biology, and disorder development of stored apple fruit; 3. Understand how modifications in ripening biology resulting from DCA storage are perceived and valued in consumer sensory testing and by storage practitioners; 4. Create a decision support tool, based on analyses of economic and sociological factors, to inform investment in DCA technology; and 5. Translate research findings into communication outputs for postharvest and horticultural scientific, educational, and practitioner communities. | The goal of this project is to provide the knowledge that will allow the safe adoption of dynamic controlled atmosphere (DCA) storage technology where it is most useful in United States (US) apple industry. The goal will be met by work in five objectives.Objective 1: The development of best management practices for handling DCA treated fruit will integrate information generated from biological, sensory, and economic data from research objectives 2, 3, and 4, respectively. We will evaluate options for atmosphere establishment, temperature control and plant growth regulator interactions in apple storage management as they relate to successful DCA implementation. Additional data collected from research in objectives 2-4 will then be used to flesh out management practices for apple storage under DCA, adding new insights and recommendations to optimize fruit quality and production efficiency.Objective 2: Fruit metabolic responses to low O2, elevated CO2, and ethylene action will be investigated using state-of-the-art analyses. The determination of the lower O2 limit (LOL) or anaerobic compensation point (ACP) and its year-to-year and regional variability will be measured for both traditional and premium cultivars. Low O2 levels will be applied in combination with a range in CO2 concentrations to understand the interplay between these two gases. Volatile (aroma-related) and non-volatile metabolite analyses will link to sensory analyses of Obj. 3.Objective 3: The degree to which stressful atmospheres impact the perception of visual, olfactory, taste, and textural quality attributes will be determined and described both quantitatively and qualitatively for fruit given storage treatments as outlined in Obj. 1. Consumer panel evaluations will be interwoven with metabolite (Obj. 2) and fruit quality (Obj. 1) analyses to permit us to define the advantages and limitations of this new technology.Objective 4: The primary economic objective is to evaluate the costs and benefits associated with the adoption of the DCA storage technology for the U.S. apple industry. We will use information from best management practices for DCA stored apple (Obj. 1), DCA effects on metabolites related to apple quality in storage (Obj. 2) and consumer sensory perceptions (Obj. 3) to assess benefits. We will use a dynamic cost-benefit analysis to evaluate the economic implications of adoption eastern and western US storage operators. In addition, we will conduct a series of market simulations using an equilibrium displacement model to assess the potential market effects throughout the supply chain.Objective 5: The translation of information generated by this project to industry stakeholders and scientific peers will employ print and web-based platforms to disseminate educational bulletins and other outreach products. Important among the outputs is a decision support tool that will assist storage entities in decisions related to technology uptake. We will conduct both general and targeted online and in-person formal extension programs, including industry stakeholder discussions, in association with each cooperator institution. We will direct newsworthy outcomes to regional and national fruit industry-oriented print and online media. |
| SOD: Solutions for Organic farm Diseases: suppressing soilborne pathogens in vegetable high tunnels | 1031446 | THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY | 09/01/2023 | 08/31/2026 | ACTIVE | Crop pathogens that disperse through the soil are a significant problem for organic farmers, especially when theyinfect vegetables during high tunnel production in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States. Steaming the soil to high temperatures and Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation (ASD) are two disease management methods that have the potential to kill problematic plant pathogens without using synthetic fungicides or fertilizers. This project will 1) compare the efficacy of soil steaming and ASD for suppressing soilborne diseases of vegetables including a focus on high tunnel tomatoes, 2) determine soil microbial community recovery (composition/diversity) after steaming and/or ASD and impacts on plant health, and 3) understand the factors that affect farmers' willingness to adopt sustainable soilborne disease management practices. We aim to share best practices with organic growersfrom these two promising, innovative organic farming practices. Results will be disseminated at farmer conferences and meetings, through peer-reviewed publications, extension materials, factsheets, and webinars. The target audiences will include partnering organically certified farmers, those who are interested in or who are in transition to organic production, industry partners, federal and academic scientists, and the public at large. | Crop diseases are a significant problem for organic vegetable farmers in the US with up to 75% yield loss due to soilborne plant pathogens. Steaming the soil and Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation (ASD) are two promising management approaches that can help organic growers suppress pathogens without using synthetic fungicides or fertilizers. However, there is little science-based research on the efficacy of soil steaming and ASD methods or data on the recovery of the microbiome and nutrients post-steaming and ASD treatments. In order for these pathogen management approaches to be effective, it is paramount to understand the underlying biological mechanisms behind these approaches and to capture the willingness of farmers to adopt such technologies. Our goal is toconduct management trials and in-person/online surveys to help organic and transitioning to organic farmers reduce high tunnel soilborne diseases.Objective 1. What Works? To compare the efficacy of ASD and soil steaming for suppressing soilborne diseases of vegetables with a focus on high tunnel tomatoes (Research).Objective 2. Who Survives? To determine soil microbial community recovery (composition/diversity) after steaming and/or ASD and impacts on plant and soil health.Objective 3. Why Adopt These Methods? Is it Worth it? To understand the factors that affect farmers' willingness to adopt sustainable soilborne disease management practices and educate growers on the management practices.Plans/Milestones: We will conduct controlled high tunnel experiments at an USDA-ARS research station in Ohio, efficacy trials on organic farms in Pennsylvania and Ohio over the duration of the grant, and address farmers' needs for adoption with interviews, surveys and conduct a cost benefit analysis.Relevance to Program Goals: Two research priorities of the National Organic Standards board are addressed in this proposal: "Development of systems-based plant disease management strategies are needed to address existing and emerging plant disease threats," and "More research is needed to fully understand the relationship between on-farm biodiversity and pathogen presence and abundance." |
| Leveraging concentrated organic byproduct materials for higher nutrient use efficiency and anaerobic soil disinfestation in organic vegetable production | 1031230 | CLEMSON UNIVERSITY | 09/01/2023 | 08/31/2027 | ACTIVE | Managing soil fertility, crop nutrition, and weed and soil-borne diseases are some of the biggest challenges that organic vegetable growers face. One of the difficulties in managing plant nutrition in organic production systems occurs due to a mismatch between the nutrient release rate of organic fertilizers and peak plant nutrient demand. For organic vegetable growers, this mismatch means nutrient release from organic fertilizers that often cannot supply enough nutrients to support periods of rapid crop growth, resulting in the loss of yield or decreased crop quality. Further, the aggressive nature of weeds and diseases and limited means for their management in organic systems, results in substantial loss of marketable crop yield worldwide up to 45-95% and 21.5% yield losses to weeds and diseases, respectively. All these factors make organic vegetable systems less productive and highly variable from one growing season to another. The proposed project aims to improve the yield and profitability of organic vegetable production by developing organic fertilizer formulations using new organic materials from manure processing and rendered materials, with higher nutrient use efficiency and for weed and soil-borne disease management. The proposed project will develop new fertilizer formulations using new manured-based organic products and rendered materials as a base matrix and will employ various natural amendments to increase the retention of mineralized nutrients in the soil for crop uptake for a longer duration, thus facilitating higher nutrient use efficiency. Further, the project team will pair the new fertilizer formulations with novel plasticulture to utilize the carbon in the standardized organic fertilizers for controlling the weeds and soil-borne diseases in organic vegetable crops through anaerobic soil disinfestation (soil disinfestation by creating anaerobic conditions with organic carbon amendments and irrigation under plastic mulch). The project team proposes to produce a pelletized material of standardized fertilizer formulations and evaluate the impact of new fertilizer formulations + novel plastic mulch on crop nutrient use efficiency, soil health, nitrogen losses, weed and soil-borne disease management, and economic feasibility of using new fertilizer formulations and novel plasticulture. The project team will further promote the adoption of new fertilizer formulations and management practices by communicating the research results and guidelines to stakeholders, scientists, and industry professionals in the southeastern and other regions of the US, through extensive education, extension, and outreach program. | Organic vegetable farming is a holistic production/management system that promotes and enhances agroecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity. Major challenges that plague organic vegetable production include a lack of knowledge and limited means to manage soil fertility, weed pressure, and pest outbreaks, which contribute to lower crop yields in organic production systems compared to conventional production systems. Despite scrupulous attempts to improve crop nutrition (through organic amendments), weed (through manual, mechanical, and cultural weeding), and disease (crop rotation, etc.) management, these areas remain among the biggest reasons for low yields in organic production systems. The proposed project aims to utilize the various natural amendments to tailor the nutrient release rate from new organic materials created through manure processing and rendered materials to match the nutrient release rate of organic materials to that of crop nutrient uptake rate and for anaerobic soil disinfestation. Thelong-term goalof the proposed project is to improve the productivity and profitability of organic vegetable crops by developing organic fertilizer formulations from manure products and rendered materials, for higher nutrient use efficiency and anaerobic soil disinfestation for weed and soil-borne disease management. Our integrated research and extension (outreach) activities will lead to effective management strategies to increase domestic organic vegetable production and profitability.The specific objectives of the proposed project are:Prepare and evaluatethe new organic materials-based and rendered materials-based fertilizer formulations for higher retention of net mineralized nutrients in soils for a longer duration by combining them with various natural agricultural amendments and horticultural oils.Fine-tuningthe regulated new organic materials-based and rendered materials-based fertilizer formulations:For maximizing the anaerobic soil disinfestation by combining with novel plasticulture materials.For nutrient release rate under plastic mulch and in the presence of plants.Evaluatethe impact of standardized organic materials-based fertilizer formulations (and their application rate) + novel plastic mulch cover:On crop N and P use efficiency, soil health, and environmental loss of nutrients.For anaerobic soil disinfestation, for its ability to reduce the incidence and population density of weeds and severity of soil-borne disease in organic vegetables grown under plastic mulch.Conducta cost-return analysis of new fertilizer formulations in combination with novel plastic mulch as compared to currently used farmer management practices.Promotingthe adoption of new fertilizer formulations and management practices by communicating research results and guidelines to stakeholders, scientists, and industry professionals in the southeastern and other regions of the US, through extensive education, extension, and outreach program. |
| Real-Time Mapping of Hydroxylamine and Other Trace Gases in Soil | 1031176 | AERODYNE RESEARCH INC | 09/01/2023 | 08/31/2025 | ACTIVE | The nitrogen cycle is fundamentally important to ecosystem health, crop productivity, food security, biosphere-atmosphere exchange, air quality, and climate change. The processes that drive nitrogen transformations in soil are influenced by environmental conditions that can exhibit large variability on millimeter and hour scales.These same variations can lead to hot spots and moments of intense gas production, impacting air quality and climate change. The current state of knowledge of the nitrogen cycle is limited by a lack of empirical data at spatiotemporal scales necessary to challenge biogeochemical models. Improving this understanding will better inform ecological and agricultural decision-making aimed at preserving natural resources, battling climate change, and increasing crop productivity, thereby helping USDA achieve its Strategic Goals 1 and 2.Aerodyne Research willdevelop, demonstrate, and commercialize a novel sampling and detection system that can measure key intermediates of the nitrogen cycle - nitrate, nitrite, and hydroxylamine -on mm-scales and with hourly time resolution. Current methods aimed at measuring these compounds are labor-intensive, destructive, insensitive, or lack the necessary resolution.The automated Aerodyne system will connectan array of small soil water probes to a fast, sensitive gas analyzer, enabling real-time, hands-offsubsurface mapping of these chemicals. The resulting technology will provide deep new insights into the nitrogen cycle in soil and its role in crop productivity, ecology, soil pollution, air pollution, and climate change. This broad range of impacts will also give it substantial commericial potential, accessing markets in agronomy, atmospheric sciences, subsurface monitoring, and ecology. | The nitrogen cycle is a foundational process in the critical zone that enables Earth's soils to sustain plant and animal life. Although many of the transformations that make up the nitrogen cycle occur in aerobic and anaerobic regions of the vadose zone, they are intimately connected to the atmosphere and biosphere.Soil is both a source and a sink of atmospheric dinitrogen (N2) as well as a source of nitrous oxide (N2O), nitric oxide (NO), and other compounds that play key roles in local air quality and global climate change.Understanding the mechanisms that drive subsurface nitrogen transformations is important for improving agricultural productivity and unraveling the contributions of natural and agricultural soil microbiomes to air pollution and climate change. Controlling the depositions, transformations, and losses of nitrogen in soil is a primary goal in efforts to maximize crop yield, reduce production costs, and minimize the environmental impact of agricultural activities.While great strides have been made toward understanding these transformations, there remain fundamental mechanistic questions that are presently difficult to address due to the heterogeneous and fluctuating nature of real-world soil environments. New, nondestructive experimental tools are needed to interrogate these processes on spatial and temporal scales that are relevant to the nitrogen cycling microbiome.The major goals of this project are to i) combine novel subsurface solute extraction with spectroscopic gas-phase detection to enable new in situ observations of key subsurface nitrogen cycling pathways with high spatial and temporal resolution; and ii) develop a commercially viable sampling and detection system based upon these technical efforts.The central concept behind this Phase II SBIR project is to couple a microdialysis-based soil water extraction methodwith a high precision infrared trace gas analyzer for detection of nitrate, nitrite, and hydroxylamine with micromolar sensitivity. Achievingthese major goals requires successful completion of the following objectives:Interfacing mL liquid sample to the TILDAS: further modifying the TILDAS absorption cell design and choosing materials to best operate with liquid samples. Phase I results suggest that the major challenge for quantitative measurement of liquid injections is analyte losses to absorption cell surfaces in the infrared gas analyzer. In Phase II, we will pursue a multi-pronged approach to limit surface losses including modifying the cell body design, heating the cell, and changing cell surfaces to limit losses.Flow design and sample preparation: designing and building the sample multiplexing system and optimizing automated sample preparation.In Phase II we will design and assemble an on-line, automated, multiplexed microdialysis (MD) flow system for integration with a TILDAS. This consists of two components: the multiplexing system and sample preparation. The multiplexing system will utilize multiselector and trapping valves to extract microliter sample volumes from microdialysis probes. Development of a commercializable hardware and software package will allow for automated, hands off sampling from an array of microdialysis probes. The sample preparation component consists of testing and automating simple chemical reaction (acidfication) steps to detect nitrate and nitrite with high sensitivity.Optimizing spectroscopy and building a TILDAS. Hydroxylamine, nitric acid and nitrous acid will be simultaneously detected with a dual-laser TILDAS instrument. One laser will be used to measure NH2OH and the second laser will measure both HNO3 and HONO. We will purchase and install both lasers at appropriate wavelengths for optimal detection of all three species and characterize spectroscopic parameters in the hydroxylamine spectral region.Given the linestrengths used in the simulation, we expect a sensitivity of~30 nM for nitrite and ~260 nM for nitrate.Testing, refining, and challenging the system.This objective will be achieved by i) assemblingthe multiplexed MD system in the laboratory, ii) optimizing operational parameters and best practices, iii) determiningmeasurement conditions under which this measurement approach is challenged, and implementing a simple calibration setup.Laboratory demonstration. This objective is aimed at demonstrating the system in a real world laboraotry environment to address and interesting scientific challenge.The microdialysis-based sampling technique will be used to expand mechanistic understanding of soil N cycling in post-fire environments and determine how novel pyrophilous or "fire-loving" microbiomes influence soil N transformations and emissions. These laboratory studies will be in collaboration with Prof. Peter Homyak at the University of California, Riverside.Commercialization.The efforts described here will allow us to develop a commerical system that will enable subsurface sampling of important nitrogen species relevant to the nitrogen cycle.The system will have substantial commercial potential due to its ability to quantify important chemical species in soil with high sensitivity and selectivity at unprecedented spatial and temporal scales. We will achieve this objective with the support of our commercialization assistance partner, Dawnbreaker. |
| PARTNERSHIP: Leveraging anaerobic ammonium oxidation for sustainable aquaculture | 1031017 | VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE & STATE UNIVERSITY | 07/15/2023 | 07/14/2026 | ACTIVE | An opportunity exists to expand the recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) industry in the U.S. to increase the domestic production of seafood, but it is important to further discover and implement innovative engineering technologies to ease the pathway to success by lowering operational costs and reducing impacts on the environment. The proposed novel technology, partial-nitrification/denitrification and anammox (PANDA), is a short-cut in the nitrogen cycle that is enabled by leveraging anaerobic oxidation. The benefits of implementing PANDA in RAS (RAS-PANDA) will be realized by reducing environmental impacts (decreasing water demand, effluent loading rates of pollutants, oxygen demand, greenhouse gas emissions) and decreasing operational costs. The proposed work herein is designed to improve our knowledge and understanding of how a novel engineering technology (PANDA) can be used to improve an animal system (RAS production of fish) using sensing/automation. Three aims will be conducted herein including Aim 1 the team will determine and assess the benefits of implementing PANDA in RAS by simultaneously evaluating traditional RAS (nitrification only) versus RAS-D (nitrification and denitrification) versus RAS-PANDA, Aim 2 the team will conduct technical and economic analyses (TEAs) to project the technologies to commercial applications and to understand how system type and feed loading rates impact operational costs, and Aim 3 the team will conduct life cycle assessments (LCAs) to characterize how the different systems and fish feed loading rates impact the environment and society. Implementing PANDA in RAS will provide a boost for the aquaculture industry and will increase our domestic production of safe, traceable, and high-quality seafood. | The primary goal of this project is to assess the feasibility and optimize the implementation of a novel technology (PANDA) to be used in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) to reduce the industries impacts on the environment while reducing operational costs.There are three primary integrated aims that will be implemented to achieve our goal. Aim 1, to determine and assess the benefits of implementing the PANDA process in RAS. Aim 2, to determine the economic sustainability of RAS using PANDA technologies using Technoeconomic Assessments (TEA).Aim 3, to determine environmental sustainability using life-cycle assessment (LCA) to characterize the various systems implemented in RAS.? |
| Research and education capacity building for energy and nutrients recovery from vegetable farm wastes | 1030971 | BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY | 09/01/2023 | 08/31/2025 | ACTIVE | Food waste and loss at the farm level is significant, representing a waste of 15.3% of food produced globally with a total value of $370 billion in 2021. The team conducted a survey in 2017, which revealed that growers look for better management of vegetable wastes and crop residues. The Illinois State University Agriculture Department undergraduate program currently consists of one B.S. degree in Agriculture with ten sequences and is expanding the curriculum to include three new sequences in Sustainable Food and Bioenergy Production, Regenerative Agriculture, and Precision Agriculture. However, currently, the Agriculture Department is lacking analytical instruments for student education and training. Capacity building of analytical instrumentation is urgent and much needed.This project aims to address the aforementioned issues. We will develop a new anaerobic digestion technology for the treatment of vegetable wastes to produce energy and capture nutrients in the vegetable wastes, and then reuse the nutrients in a hydroponic production system. We will purchase a piece of analytical equipment, Gas Chromatography, for research and education activities. This equipment acquisition will be co-sponsored by an industry partner. Teaching and learning materials will be developed and used to educate STEM major students in multiple courses with a total annual enrollment of 200. Tours and workshops will be provided to community college and K-12 students. We will also disseminate the project results to farmers and agriculture professionals through field day and conference presentations. Successful project completion will promote sustainable agriculture, increase the quality of the future agricultural workforce, and advance the anaerobic digestion technology. | The long-term goals of this research and education integrated project are to: 1) promote sustainable agriculture and foster a circular economy by recovering energy and nutrients from vegetable farm wastes; 2) improve teaching and learning capacity at Illinois State University (ISU) and provide a quality workforce to the U.S. agricultural industries, and 3) further develop and get closer to commercialization of a novel anaerobic digestion (AD) technology.This project aims to enhance the research and teaching capacity in Environmental Sciences/Management and Agricultural/Biological Engineering at ISU to strengthen the institution's ability to sustainably provide quality and innovative research and teaching in this field. Our research focus will be on further developing the novel cartridge AD system and a better understanding of the enhanced management practices needed for sustainable vegetable farm waste management, including the use of AD for energy recovery and biochar for nutrient recovery. This focus is aligned with the USDA Strategic Plan FY 2022-2026 goal of "Expand Opportunities for Economic Development and Improve Quality of Life in Rural and Tribal Communities." Our educational focus will be developing new teaching materials and providing learning and training opportunities to ISU undergraduate students, community college, and K12 students, and regional crops growers. Research objectives are to: 1) optimize and demonstrate a pilot-scale cartridge anaerobic digester for energy recovery from vegetable farm wastes; 2) examine the effects of biochar addition on cartridge digester performance, and 3) evaluate the benefits of digested biochar for providing essential nutrients to vegetable crops. Teaching objectives are to: 1) develop four new labs and two new teaching modules that will contribute to newly established undergraduate academic sequences; 2) increase undergraduate participation and training in sustainable agriculture research; and 3) enhance the teaching of laboratory-based hands-on skills and analytical techniques. |
| Development of C-CBP to enable cash-positive conversion of corn stover to biofuels co-located at a corn ethanol mill | 1030895 | TERRAGIA BIOFUEL INC | 05/15/2023 | 11/14/2023 | COMPLETE | Terragia Biofuel Inc.proposes a Phase II SBIR project aimed at an innovative approach for low-cost processing of lignocelluloseto fuels and chemicals based on engineered thermophilic bacteria combined with milling during fermentation (cotreatment). Thisapproach, termed C-CBP, avoids the two process steps responsible for the high cost of current technology: thermochemicalpretreatment and added enzymes. We target the opportunity for C-CBP with the shortest path to commercialization: corn stoverto ethanol. Phase I efforts nearly doubled ethanol titers from corn stover, successfully demonstrated simultaneous conversion ofC6 and C5 sugars, and showed that components of the C-CBP approach can be functionally integrated.Peer-reviewed technoeconomic analysis carried out in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)has shown that an advanced cellulosic ethanol plant employing C-CBP has an 8-fold shorter payback period and economicfeasibility at 10-fold smaller scale than conventional scenarios. Given the cost savings and scale-insensitivity of C-CBP, wehypothesize that it is possible to build a demonstration facility for which revenues exceed operating expenses, co-located at anexisting corn ethanol plant. Toward this end, objectives of the Phase II proposal are:1. Improve the technical performance of ethanol production from corn stover via C-CBP through a combination of bioprocessand strain improvement;2. Develop a low-cost growth medium for C-CBP making use of streams available within a corn ethanol mill;3. Develop a detailed design for a demonstration plant co-located at a POET corn ethanol mill that will cost less than $5 millionto build and have revenues that exceed operating expenses.4. Demonstrate key features of C-CBP at 60 gallon scale at POET's Research Center in Scotland, South Dakota.5. Perform a technoeconomic and market analysis of catalytic conversion of ethanol to hydrocarbon blendstocks, co-located at acorn ethanol plant.POET LLC will provide materials needed for work on objectives 1 and 2, and will participate in activities pursuant to theremaining objectives. Vertimass LLC will work with Enchi and POET on objective 5. An experienced industry consultant and IPfirm will provide Technical and Business Assistance.The anticipated results of this project include the development of a small business and commercialization of a highly innovativetechnology. This Phase II project represents a critical step toward enabling low-cost conversion of corn-stover to ethanol andwould lead to increased revenue and job creation for both corn farmers and fuel producers. Commercialization of C-CBP will bean important step toward realizing the long-anticipated benefits of expanded use of cellulosic feedstocks with respect to ruraleconomic development and climate stabilization. | 1. Improve the technical performance of ethanol production from corn stover via C-CBP through a combination of bioprocessand strain improvement;2. Develop a low-cost growth medium for C-CBP making use of streams available within a corn ethanol mill;3. Incorporating results from 1 & 2, develop a detailed design for a demonstration plant co-located at a POET corn ethanolmill that will cost less than $5 million to build and have revenues that exceed operating expenses.4. Demonstrate key features of C-CBP at 60 gallon scale at POET's Research Center in Scotland, South Dakota.5. Perform a technoeconomic and market analysis of catalytic conversion of ethanol to hydrocarbon blendstocks co-locatedat a corn ethanol plant. |
| Economic Efficiency and Policy Design Challenges of Carbon Markets in US Agriculture | 1030872 | REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, THE | 06/15/2023 | 06/14/2027 | ACTIVE | This project studies the possibility of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from theagricultural sector through the use of carbon markets that pay agriculturalists for reducingtheir emissions. The first phase of the work is to develop a general frameworkbased on economic modeling that describes which "mitigation pathways" (soil sequestration,anaerobic digesters, etc.) have the greatest potential for emissions reduction benefit andthe least potential for unintended consequences when used as voluntary emissions offsets.This creates a roadmap for future research by directing attention to the biggestchallenges and the most promising mitigation pathways from an economic and policymakingpoint of view. The second phase provides deeper analysis of specific case studies,with leading candidates being changes in the use of synthetic fertilizer and the use of anaerobic digesters for livestock manure. The insights from the work will help inform the design of these markets and inform stakeholders about pitfalls and opportunities to advance carbon mitigation in the agricultural sector. | The goal of the project is to describe how carbon markets that pay for mitigation can be designed to foster GHG mitigation in the agriculture sector, accounting for incentive and measurement challenges.The objectives are:1. Develop a framework for evaluating the suitability of offsets in carbon markets associated with various mitigation pathways. This is to be an economic model that delineates incentive problems in policy design, and incorporates insights from existing literature to characterize the benefits and problems associated with the main agricultural GHG mitigation pathways.2. Provide deeper analysis of specific mitigation pathways. The plan is to study anaerobic digesters and nitrous oxide emissions from croplands, but other applications may emerge. |
| PARTNERSHIP: Magnetic Cellulose Bioconjugates for L. monocytogenes Disinfection | 1030676 | UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON | 08/01/2023 | 07/31/2026 | ACTIVE | The United States has a complex food system where our foods come from multiple production, processing, and packaging facilities. These create numerous potential entry points for foodborne pathogens and require stringent surveillance and disinfection protocols. However, some pathogens, such as Listeria monocytogenes (Listeria), survive even under extreme environmental conditions, including low pH and temperatures. Once entering high-risk individuals, Listeria can cause infections with high mortality rates and hospitalization costs. Despite our best disinfection efforts, Listeria outbreaks continue to take place. Costly food recalls as a result of potential Listeria contamination are also frequent. These urgent issues can all be attributed to the ability of Listeria to persist in the food production and processing facilities. In fact, Listeria can adhere to surfaces and grow into a biofilm structure resistant to many disinfectants and sanitizers. This project aims to target and destroy Listeria biofilm structures through nanotechnology by generating composite structures at the nanoscale responsive to external stimuli such as magnetic fields. More specifically, we plan to create and characterize innovative nanobioconjugates that contain cellulose-derived materials with magnetic nanoparticles linked to synthetic or natural disinfectants. We plan to investigate the effectiveness of these nanobioconjugates against Listeria biofilm under magnetic fields. This collaborative and interdisciplinary effort will occur in two different institutions, one mid-size University and one minority- and Hispanic-serving University. The project will involve undergraduate as well as graduate students. Ultimately, our findings will bring advanced nanotechnology to combat the presence and persistence of foodborne pathogens to promote food safety. | The overarching goal of the project entitled: "Magnetic Cellulose Nanobioconjugates for Listeria monocytogenes Disinfection'' is to develop unique magnetic functionalized nanobioconjugates comprised of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), magnetic nanoparticles, and disinfectants, to eliminate Listeria monocytogenes biofilms under applied magnetic fields. This work will be achieved by following a series of technical objectives:1) Prepare multiple nanobioconjugates by testing two cellulose nanocrystal types and three different disinfectants (benzalkonium chloride, benzalkonium bromide, and chitosan),2) Assess the toxicity and antimicrobial performance of as-prepared nanobioconjugates against L. monocytogenes in vitro to identify candidates suitable for biofilm studies,3) Characterize biofilm formation in diverse L. monocytogenes strains under relevant environmental conditions (e.g., low temperature, reduced oxygen availability, varying relative humidity),4) Perform diffusion, distribution, and disinfection studies of optimized nanobioconjugates at different concentrations with and without applied magnetic fields in L. monocytogenes biofilms prepared under various conditions. |
| PARTNERSHIP: Anti-inflammatory Interactions of Gallotannins with the Intestinal Microbiome in Obesity | 1030664 | TEXAS A&M AGRILIFE RESEARCH | 08/01/2023 | 07/31/2026 | ACTIVE | This application is responding to program area 3. Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health, addressing 3c. Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases, A1344, by integrating research and education in the focus areas 1) Evaluation of innovative research and educational strategies to improve eating patterns that support the prevention of chronic disease and 2) Investigate and assess nutrition research with the goal to improve and sustain health.Polyphenol-rich diets have been associated with increased resilience against obesity-associated chronic diseases. Studies show that intestinal obesity-associated microbial dysbiosis may not effectively metabolize polyphenols, possibly resulting in limited benefits. This presents a disadvantage to the very population that is in need of these benefits. Our recent human clinical studies shows that systemic levels of tannin metabolites are significantly lower in obese compared to lean individuals upon consumption, which may limit their derived health benefits. The objectives aim to 1) evaluate the interactions between microbial composition, macromolecular polyphenols, and metabolic signatures in anaerobic fermentations and an animal model and to 2) evaluate macromolecular polyphenolswith enzymatic and probiotic strategies in a randomized, placebo-controlled double-blinded human clinical trial 3) provide hands-on research opportunities for underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students enhanced by asset-based practices, 4) provide professional development for 9th-12th grade science, career-technology-education (CTE) teachers in the development of high-impact learning resources based on the health benefits of plant-based foods and the role of the intestinal microbiome in health and disease.This project will provide crucial insights into polyphenol-microbiome interactions and sustainable educational opportunities for teachers, undergraduate and graduate students. | The overall goalsof this project include research goals and integrative student and teacher training:1. The overall research goal is to determine the role of probiotic bacteria in the metabolism of large molecular polyphenols in a human clinical setting2. The education-related goals includea) to develop effective teaching tools in cutting edge-nutrition and food science-related topics for K9-12 teachersb) and to sustainably involve undergraduate students in the above listed research activities with the goal of increasing hands-on opportunities as well as the likelihoodof students' desire to engage in science-related careers. |
| Automating Black Soldier Fly Rearing For On-Farm Waste Recycling And Income Generation | 1030627 | REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT RIVERSIDE | 05/01/2023 | 04/30/2026 | ACTIVE | Unusable crops are considered waste to be removed at the farmer's expense. Reintroduction of insect decomposers into agricultural systems can alleviate waste removal costs, rapidly generate usable products (fertilizer), and lead to new revenue streams (insect biomass). The Black Soldier Fly (BSF) is an effective decomposer of any type of organic matter, and is used worldwide for waste management, production of fertilizer (frass), and as feed for livestock, aquaculture, and pets. However, BSF rearing by the standard "batch" method (carefully measured cohorts of larvae with set quantities of waste) currently requires substantial human labor, which hinders on- farm use. An alternative "steady-state" rearing system involves continuous rearing of BSF in bioreactors and is less labor intensive, but still requires some human maintenance. These maintenance tasks are targets for introducing cost-conscious sensing and automation. The goal of this seed-grant project is to engineer, build, and test a prototype automated steady state system suitable for on-farm use. We will accomplish this goal through a productive and established collaboration among two entomologists, the inventor of the steady-state system, and an electrical/computer engineer. By automating on-farm BSF rearing, we will expand utilization of waste in agricultural systems and engineer new products that utilize materials from agriculture. Our project addresses the AFRI long-term goals to ensure efficient use of on-farm resources and increase integration of natural biological cycles and controls in agricultural systems. | Insect decomposers are a missing link in our food and agricultural systems. Reintroduction of insects can help convert a linear food system, which creates unusable waste, to a "circular food system" that recycles waste to new products. The Black Soldier Fly (BSF), Hermetia illucens, is an ideal decomposer for circular food systems. BSF larvae (immatures) can turn any type of low-grade waste into body mass quickly. BSF biomass can then be harvested to use as feed for fowl or aquaculture, and to isolate high-end protein and fat, oil for biofuel and other valuable byproducts, such as chitin/chitosan and melanin. At the same time, these insects reduce the volume of waste and transform it into a nutrient-rich, compost-like substance called frass. Because of its efficacy in valorizing waste to usable products, BSF is now widely used around the world for waste management and decontamination. But until now, commercialized BSF operations have only been feasible at industrial scales, even though waste recycling and added revenue streams are needed across many sectors.Agriculture is one such sector where BSF have great potential to turn unusable outputs (e.g., unmarketable crops and some crop residues) into products that are usable on site (insect frass as fertilizer) and products that bring additional income (larvae or pupae). The frass produced by BSF larval feeding on waste is particularly useful to generate on-site. Frass contains both digested waste and insect exoskeletons made of chitin. It is rich in nitrogen and is a suitable replacement for environmentally damaging synthetic fertilizers. As it is broken down by microbial activity, the chitin in frass stimulates plant immunity against pests and pathogens and increases the abundance and diversity of beneficial microbes in the rhizosphere. This product is so versatile as a soil amendment, it is now being produced and marketed by the BSF industry.Despite the clear benefits of on-farm BSF rearing for cost savings on agricultural waste removal, fertilizer, soil and plant health maintenance, and generating additional income, BSF rearing remains confined to large, for-profit entities focused exclusively on insect rearing at industrial scales. This sector can absorb the labor costs of BSF production through the current standard "batch" method, whereby carefully measured cohorts of larvae are established with set quantities of food waste as a substrate, then maintained through development for harvest. However, BSF rearing on-farm using the batch methods adopted at industrial scales would involve manual labor inputs that would outweigh any cost savings gained through production of fertilizer or marketable larvae.An alternative that is more flexible, less labor intensive, and adaptable to on-farm scales is the "steady state" rearing method, which involves continuous rearing of BSF in bioreactors housing overlapping generations of BSF larvae. The bioreactor environment is partially open, allowing natural oviposition by adults and eliminating the need for labor intensive egg collection and weighing. The design also takes advantage of the natural "self-harvesting" behavior of mature larvae, which are known as prepupae when they stop feeding and darken. Insects in this stage remove themselves from the substrate and migrate to a waste-free and dry location (e.g., a bin) for final maturation to adults. Although less labor intensive than batch rearing, steady state rearing operations still require some human labor for maintenance. This includes dispensing of waste to bioreactors, stacking and de-stacking of bioreactor bins, removal of spent waste (frass product) to spent waste reservoirs, vacuum removal of self-harvested prepupae to collection vessels, and monitoring bioreactors for issues that would prompt corrective action (e.g., checking for excessive heat, monitoring carbon dioxide, ammonia, pH, moisture).The long-term goal of the proposed project is to automate steady-state rearing maintenance tasks that currently require human labor to enable on-farm use of BSF for agricultural waste recycling. The proposed project will address this goal through the following three objectives:Objective 1: engineer cost-conscious solutions to automate maintenance and monitoring tasksObjective 2: compare costs and returns of the automated system to more labor-intensive methodsObjective 3: evaluate and demonstrate the performance of an automated system in an agricultural context.Our efforts will produce the first prototype of a semi-automated steady-state BSF rearing operation suitable for use on small to mid-sized farms, as well as use in other contexts where food/green waste is abundant, but labor costs high (e.g., college campuses). |