KSU gets $50 million grant to help address global food issues

Kansas State University announced it has received a $50 million grant from the federal government for research and work toward addressing global food needs.

The U.S. Agency for International Development grant will be used to establish a Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Sustainable Intensification, according to a news release from the university.

“Through our Feed the Future Innovation Labs, USAID is empowering the world’s finest universities to help improve nutrition and end widespread hunger around the world,” agency administrator Rajiv Shah said in a statement. “By creating and scaling cutting-edge solutions to our most pressing agricultural challenges, we can help the world’s most vulnerable people move from dependency to self-sufficiency – and out of the tragic cycle of extreme poverty.”

This is the fourth Feed the Future Lab awarded to K-State. Other labs focus on sorghum and millet research, applied wheat genomics and the reduction of post-harvest loss. Currently there are 24 Innovation Labs led by 15 U.S. universities, with involvement from more than 60 U.S. colleges and universities in 39 states.

“With four Feed the Future Innovation Labs now hosted by the College of Agriculture and K-State Research and Extension, USAID is making a nearly $100 million investment in Kansas State University’s ability to provide leadership to the global food systems research, teaching and extension efforts,” John Floros, dean of the College of Agriculture at K-State, said in the release.

This newest Feed the Future lab will identify technologies to help small farms in Africa and South Asia improve land, water, soil, crop and livestock management while improving yields and sustaining natural resources. The lab will focus on countries in West Africa, east and south Africa, and South Asia.

This story was originally published September 24, 2014 at 8:21 AM with the headline "KSU gets $50 million grant to help address global food issues."