Please join USAID’s Innovation Lab for Assets and Market Access on November 3 in Washington, D.C. for an engaging one-day workshop, Mind the Gap – Exploring the Disparities Between Smallholder Farmer Practice and Potential. The day will include presentations and working group sessions that delve into why average small farm yields consistently fall well below what is possible, and what research and policies will help ensure that farmers can benefit from new innovations in the best way possible.

Register on Agrilinks to discover more!

The grant, which will be used to establish the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems, supports USAID’s agricultural research and capacity building work under Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative.

“Through our Feed the Future Innovation Labs, the U.S. government is empowering the world’s finest universities to help improve nutrition and end widespread hunger around the world,” said acting USAID administrator Alfonse E. Lenhardt. “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.”

“With this latest award to UF/IFAS, USAID is now investing over $75 million in the University of Florida’s ability to provide leadership to the global food systems research, teaching and extension efforts,” said Jack Payne, UF’s senior vice president of agriculture and natural resources.

This newest Feed the Future Innovation Lab will improve livestock productivity and the incomes and nutrition of livestock holders through appropriate improved technologies, capacity building and enabling policies, said Adegbola Adesogan, director of UF’s Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems and a professor of animal sciences.

“The program will help increase the resilience of vulnerable populations, reduce the environmental impact of livestock systems, and advance understanding of the rapidly evolving livestock systems and their roles in food safety and security, human nutrition, and human and animal health,” he said.

The Livestock Systems Innovation Lab will focus on six countries in West and East Africa and South Asia:  Mali, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Cambodia and Nepal.

“This grant provides a tremendous opportunity to contribute toward meeting the increasing global demand for livestock products specifically and food generally, “Adesogan said. “Our research and capacity building efforts will equip students, farmers and scientists in the focal countries with the knowledge and innovative technologies to significantly increase livestock productivity and improve the nutritional status of vulnerable families.”

The award will strengthen global engagement at the University of Florida and allow the institution to better assist developing nations in addressing poverty and hunger, said Walter Bowen, director of UF/IFAS Global.

“By joining the ranks of the science-based Feed the Future Innovation Labs, the University of Florida continues a strong tradition of contributing to the research, education and extension needs of small holder farmers around the world,” he said.

Feed the Future is working to scale up proven technologies and activities, expand nutrition interventions and programs, and conduct research to create the next generation of innovations that can change the lives of food producers and their families. In 2014, Feed the Future reached nearly 7 million farmers and other food producers with new technologies and management practices, while reaching more than 12 million children with high-impact nutrition interventions that improve health and development.

About Feed the Future: Feed the Future is the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative. With a focus on smallholder farmers, particularly women, Feed the Future supports partner countries in developing their agriculture sectors to spur economic growth and trade that increase incomes and reduce hunger, poverty and undernutrition. For more information, visit www.feedthefuture.gov.

The original press release can be found here: http://news.ufl.edu/articles/2015/09/uf-receives-49-million-usaid-award-to-aid-in-global-food-security.php

The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management at Virginia Tech, funded by USAID, invites the submission of concept notes from U.S. universities, CGIAR institutions, other International Agricultural Research Institutions, and host country institutions to compete to lead the Vegetable Crops IPM for East Africa. Concept notes will be reviewed and may lead to an invitation to submit a full proposal.

U.S. universities as defined under Section 296(d) of Title XII of the Foreign Assistance Act, CGIAR, AIRCA, and host country institutions are eligible to apply as the lead institution for a period of 4.25 years. Total funding (single award) is $1.55 million. Collaboration or partnerships with relevant and appropriate host country organizations, other universities, the IARCs, and/or development community partners is encouraged.

Concept notes for Vegetable Crops IPM for East Africa are due July 3, 2015.

• Vegetable Crops IPM for East Africa
• Budget Template

Learn more.

The Peanut & Mycotoxin Innovation Lab is one of 23 Feed the Future Innovation Labs, a unique network comprising some 65 top U.S. colleges and universities along with many partner country research and educational institutions. The Innovation Labs are supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) under Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative. With a focus on smallholder farmers, particularly women, Feed the Future supports partner countries in developing their own agriculture sectors to generate opportunities for economic growth and trade, which can help reduce poverty and hunger.

The Peanut & Mycotoxin Innovation Lab research provides key information all along the value chain to increase peanut productivity and control mycotoxins.

Mycotoxins, such as aflatoxin, are poisonous compounds produced by molds found in many commodities, including peanuts and maize. Aflatoxin exposure in humans has been associated with many negative health effects, such as liver cancer, immune suppression and childhood stunting. It also creates limitations to economic development, including trade barriers to formal markets and impacts on livestock health.

PMIL has been working with colleagues in Haiti since 2008 to improve peanut production and processing, including the monitoring and control of aflatoxins throughout the value chain.

The first event on Thursday, June 11^th, will be a field trip by the PMIL team and local partners to the Central Plateau to tour peanut farms, peanut variety evaluation research, the Acceso Peanut Enterprise Corporation depots, and the Partners in Health peanut processing and Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) factory.

On Friday morning, June 12^th, PMIL is organizing a workshop, “Priorities for Addressing Mycotoxins in Haiti,” involving the PMIL team and a number of local stakeholders to discuss the health and economic development risks associated with mycotoxins, with an update on research findings in Haiti. Following these presentations, a panel of public and private sector participants will discuss the priorities to address mycotoxins in Haiti.

In the afternoon, the PMIL Haiti project team will meet to discuss the results from this year’s activities and to prepare the research plans for the next year.

On June 15^th through the 18^th, PMIL will conduct its Annual Research Meeting at the Hotel Mont Joli in Cap Haitian, Haiti. More than 40 members of PMIL’s international team of scientists, External Advisory Panel members, USAID representatives, the PMIL Management Entity and partners will meet to discuss the program’s research strategy, latest results, future plans and program operations.

The group will take advantage of the locale on Wednesday to tour an Acceso depot and buying point, peanut research plots, processing and production facilities at the nearby Meds & Food for Kids RUTF factory, and a medical facility treating severe malnutrition with peanut-based RUTF.

For more information, contact Christy Fricks or the PMIL Office at ftfpmil@uga.edu.

For more information about PMIL visit our website at: http://pmil.caes.uga.edu

For more information about Feed the Future Innovation Labs: http://www.feedthefuture.gov/article/feed-future-innovation-labs

About USAID

USAID is the lead U.S. Government agency that works to end extreme global poverty and enable resilient, democratic societies to realize their potential. For more information, please visit www.usaid.gov.

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Registration is now open. Early bird registration ends July 31.

Dates: June 3-5, 2015
Location: Conference Center at 20 F Street  (near Union Station)
Washington, D.C., USA

The Modernizing Extension and Advisory Services (MEAS) consortium and others committed to strengthening extension systems in developing countries will converge in Washington, D.C. to consolidate the MEAS Project’s knowledge and practice contributions and to deliberate on their role for the future of extension and advisory services. How can we best strengthen extension systems in developing countries in order to reduce poverty and increase food security? What are the lessons from the MEAS experience and the experience of partners around the world? How can we sustain impacts to result in improved services for small-holder farmers, especially women farmers?

Learn more here: http://www.meas-extension.org/workshops/meas-symposium-2015

14-16 July 2015 – Charleston, SC USA

Registration
Registration is now open.  Members can register on-line for the discounted rate of $200 until June 20, 2015.  Your registration include access to all general sessions, technical sessions, committee meeting, and planned activities (ice cream social, receptions, meals, tours, fun run).  The registration also includes passes to these functions for your spouse or significant other and your children.

Non-members can get all the benefits of APRES membership by joining APRES for $100 and (early bird) register for $200 for the same price as registering as a non-member.

8:30 am BIFAD PUBLIC MEETING
Ballroom A, Strand Union Building
Live Streamed via Web

-Chair Brady Deaton opens meeting and reviews agenda
-Welcome by Dr. Brady Deaton
-Welcome by Dr. Waded Cruzado
-Old and new business
-HICD Working Group Status Report by Gebisa Ejeta

8:45 am – 9:45 am
Tribal College Panel
Moderator: Dr. Waded Cruzado, President, Montana State University
Panelists include: Dr. Carole Falcon-Chandler, President, Aaniiih Nakoda College
Dr. Billie Jo Kipp, President, Blackfeet Community College
Dr. David Yarlott, President, Little Big Horn College

9:45 am
Question/Answer and Comment Period by BIFAD Members

10:00 am -10:45 am
BREAK and MSU Student Recognition Day poster display
Ballroom C, Strand Union Building

10:45 am – 11:15 am
CATIE (Tropical Agriculture Research and Higher Education Center) update
Ballroom A, Strand Union Building
Presentation by: Dr. I. Miley Gonzalez, Deputy Director General, CATIE

11:15 am – 12:15 pm
PANEL: Decision Making to Enhance Food Security and Resilience
Moderator: Dr. Waded Cruzado, President, Montana State University
Panelists include: Dr. Sarah Janzen, Assistant Professor, Agricultural Economics and Economics
Dr. Selena Ahmed, Assistant Professor, Health & Human Development
Dr. Eric Raile, Visiting Assistant Professor, Political Science

12:15 pm
Question/Answer and Comment Period by BIFAD Members

12:30 pm – 12:45 pm
Public comment period (in-person audience & submitted questions)

For questions or comments about BIFAD, contact Susan Owens, BIFAD Executive Director 1300 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20004 (O) 202-712-0218, (E) sowens@usaid.gov

The full agenda is available by clicking here.

Photo Credit: Legume Innovation Lab, IPM-omics: Scalable and sustainable solutions for pest management of insect pests of cowpea in Africa Project.

The Legume Innovation Lab Director Irvin Widders has been named the recipient of the 2015 Ralph Smuckler Award for Advancing International Studies and Programs at Michigan State University (MSU). Widders’s commitment to helping smallholder farmers (many of whom are women) improve their crop yields in grain legumes and the nutritional status of their families and communities has shaped his 30-plus year career at MSU.

As director of the USAID-funded Legume Innovation Lab since 2002, Widders has continued MSU’s incredible legacy of engaging science and scientific leadership to address the seemingly insurmountable worldwide problems of hunger and poverty. He has overseen the management of dozens of long-term projects focused on advancing sustainable and secure agricultural developments through science research, technology, and capacity building programs in Sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, and the United States.

Recognizing that grain legumes are critical crops in developing countries because they are nutrient-dense staple foods, generate household income, increase the sustainability of cropping systems because of their ability to fix nitrogen in the soil, enhance the livelihoods of women, and improve child growth, nutrition, and overall health, Widders has brought together scholars in such diverse areas as entomology and pest management, plant breeding, soil science, genetics, nutrition, gender equity, marketing, and economics to improve the lives of smallholder bean and cowpea farmers throughout the world.

Under his leadership, smallholder farmers’ bean and cowpea crop yields have improved significantly and sustainably due to environmentally friendly and affordable advances in pest management to reduce crop loss, improved seed varieties able to thrive in changing climates, improved soil management practices, and widespread education on agriculture and nutrition. As a result, household food security and income has improved in these regions, improving the health and lives of families and communities throughout the world.

In Irvin Widders, Ralph Smuckler’s vision and legacy of global engagement at MSU has been perpetuated and applied to the benefit of smallholder farmers in more than 20 countries. As is core to MSU’s mission, Widders’s leadership and work have advanced innovative, research-driven outreach, engagement, and economic development activities that have improve—and continue to improve— the quality of life for the world’s most vulnerable people.

The award ceremony will be held on Wednesday, March 25, at 3:00 p.m. at MSU’s Huntington Club, 4^th floor of Spartan Stadium, 535 Chestnut Road, East Lansing, Michigan.

The Ralph H. Smuckler Award for Advancing International Studies and Programs recognizes a deserving faculty member for his or her significant and lasting impact on the advancement of international scholarship, teaching, and public service at MSU. Award recipients must be widely recognized for major international contributions to Michigan State University which enhance its education and public service functions nationally and internationally.

The Ralph H. Smuckler Award was named for Ralph H. Smuckler, former Dean of International Studies and Programs and an acclaimed international scholar, led Michigan State University to worldwide recognition in the field of international education and public service. Award winners are expected to represent the character and qualities of excellence which Ralph H. Smuckler personified.

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The story was authored by Legume Innovation Lab Communications Manager Marguerite A. Halversen. It was originally published on the Legume Innovation Lab website.

The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Grain Legumes (formerly the Pulse CRSP) contributes to economic growth and food and nutrition security through knowledge and technology generation that strengthens grain legume (e.g., bean, cowpea, pigeon pea, etc.) value chains and enhances the capacity and sustainability of agriculture research institutions that serve grain legume sectors in developing countries of Africa and Latin America.