The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced an investment of $70 million in seven creative and visionary agricultural projects. These projects aim to transform the U.S. food and agricultural system and sustainably increase agricultural production in ways that also reduce its environmental footprint. The University of Wisconsin -Madison is among those seven.
The innovative program focuses on a broad range of needed research, education and Extension solutions. These range from addressing agricultural workforce challenges and promoting land stewardship to addressing climate change impacts in agriculture and filling critical needs in food and nutrition.
“Agriculture is facing a multitude of complex challenges,” said Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young, USDA Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics. “We need all hands on deck developing creative, sustainable and strategic ways to feed, clothe and fuel future generations.”
UW-Madison
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dr. Erin Silva is leading a collaboration with the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition, the Wisconsin Tribal Conservation Advisory Council, and the Menominee Nation on a transdisciplinary project that aims to scale up traditional Indigenous food production practices — practices that for generations have already been climate-smart and sustainable — by expanding production, processing, storage, and distribution systems, as well as education and Extension programs, that are needed to support integrated crop-livestock systems, cover crops, and rotationally-grazed cattle and pastured chickens.
