ARKANSAS: Agriculture Faculty Net $500K Grant for Study of Impacts of Perennial Forage Systems
Two Arkansas researchers will be gauging consumer sentiment as well as evaluating any health and economic benefits of meat products from livestock raised on perennial forage systems.
The $10M grant from the USDA NIFA (EPSCoR), will focus on studying and promoting perennial forage systems. The grant is part of USDA's efforts to increase US farm production by 50% while reducing the environmental footprint for production by 40% by 2050. Arkansas was awarded just over $500,000 of the grant for its work.
In Arkansas, two members of the Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Department will be working on the grant: Di Fang, an associate professor, and James Mitchell, assistant professor and extension livestock economist.
"Forage-based agricultural production has always been important to the agricultural economy in Arkansas," John Anderson, head of the Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Department, said. "This project will provide a tremendous opportunity to explore innovative ways to improve the productivity of forage-based production systems, as well as to capture additional environmental and social benefits from those systems."