USA
February 4, 2026

USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has invested $3.9 million in eight research projects that support public breeding efforts to provide farmers with greater access to locally and regionally adapted cultivars and addresses the public breeding priorities in the USDA plant breeding roadmap. This is a program area priority of the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program. It provides breeders with support to select and evaluate promising plant materials in regional trials or cooperative networks with the primary goal of producing distinct, uniform, finished cultivars for release into the marketplace. 

2025 Awardees: 

• Clemson University (2)
• Iowa State University
• Montana State University
• Purdue University
• University of Georgia
• University of Florida
• University of Minnesota. 

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Published: February 5, 2026