USDA creates Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research

The Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR), designed to leverage public and private resources to increase the scientific and technological research, innovation, and partnerships critical to boosting America's agricultural economy, has been created, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced on July 23. A 15-member board of directors has been appointed to guide the new foundation.
Authorized by Congress as part of the 2014 farm bill, the foundation will operate as a non-profit corporation seeking and accepting private donations in order to fund research activities that focus on problems of national and international significance. Congress also provided $200 million for the foundation which must be matched by non-federal funds as the Foundation identifies and approves projects.
"Studies have shown that every dollar invested in agricultural research creates $20 in economic activity," said Vilsack. "Investments in innovation made over the past several decades have developed new products and new procedures that have been critical to the continued growth of American agriculture. We must continue to make strategic investments in research and technology if we are to remain leaders in the global economy."
The research funded by FFAR will address issues including plant and animal health; food safety, nutrition and health; renewable energy, natural resources, and environment; agricultural and food security; and agriculture systems and technology.
The foundation's board of directors was chosen to represent the diverse sectors of agriculture. Seven of these board members were selected by the unanimous vote of the board's five ex-officio members from lists of candidates provided by industry, while eight representatives were unanimously elected from a list of candidates provided by the National Academy of Sciences. Congress mandated that the ex-officio members choose the initial 15 board members from among the lists provided by these two groups. However, new board members now have the option of adding additional members if they so choose. Vilsack said he hoped the board would exercise its prerogative to add more members to expand the board's diversity.
In announcing the 15-member FFAR board, Vilsack remarked, "Public-private partnerships are vital to the agricultural research community, and this is reflected in the membership of the foundation's board of directors."
The 15 voting members are:


• Dr. Kathryn Boor - the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of theCollege of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University
• Dr. Douglas Buhler - Director of AgBioResearch and seniorassociate dean for research for the College of Agriculture and NaturalResources, Michigan State University
• Dr. Nancy Creamer - Distinguished professor of sustainableagriculture and community based food systems, North Carolina StateUniversity
• Dr. Deborah Delmer - Professor emeritus of biology,University of California-Davis
• Dan Glickman - former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture andcurrent executive director of the Aspen Institute's Congressional Program
• Dr. Robert Horsch - Deputy director, Bill & MelindaGates Foundation
• Pamela Johnson - Chairwoman, National Corn GrowersAssociation
• Dr. Mark E. Keenum - President, Mississippi StateUniversity
• Dr. Michael Ladisch - Director of the Laboratory ofRenewable Resources Engineering and Distinguished Professor ofAgricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University
• Dr. Christopher Mallett - Vice president of researchand development, Cargill
• Dr. Pamela Matson - Chester Naramore Dean of the Schoolof Earth Sciences, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor ofEnvironmental Studies and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for theEnvironment, Stanford University
• Dr. Terry McElwain - Associate director and professor,Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health, and Executive Director,Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Washington StateUniversity
• Dr. Stanley Prusiner - Director of the Institute forNeurodegenerative Diseases and Professor of Neurology, University ofCalifornia-San Francisco and 1997 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine
• Dr. Yehia "Mo" Saif - Professor emeritus, TheOhio State University
• Dr. Barbara Schaal - Dean of the faculty of Arts &Sciences and Mary-Dell Chilton distinguished professor at WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis.
The five ex-officio board members, all of whom were designated by Congress, are Vilsack; Dr. Catherine Woteki, USDA undersecretary for Research, Education, and Economics and Chief Scientist; Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young, administrator of the USDA Agricultural Research Service; Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy, firector of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture; and Dr. France A. Córdova, director of the National Science Foundation.
In a time of federal budgetary restraints, the new foundation is another innovative way to continue and expand investment in agricultural research. FFAR will complement existing federal and federally-funded agricultural science research endeavors and accelerate solutions to the challenges American agriculture.