Sustainable Food Systems Initiative – Feb 14

Posted by Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research on January 21, 2025

Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research invites applications for Sustainable Food Systems Initiative

The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) aims to connect funders, researchers, and farmers through public-private partnerships to support audacious research addressing the biggest food and agriculture challenges.

The FFAR invites applications for the Sustainable Food Systems Initiative, which supports community-based initiatives focused on food as medicine, health, and agriculture. The Danone Institute of North America (DINA) Sustainable Food Systems Initiative supports community-based initiatives focused on food as medicine, health, and agriculture. The Focus on Food is a competitive program co-funded by FFAR.

The 2025-27 initiative commits a total of $410,000 in funding across eight grants. Five grants will be awarded to transdisciplinary teams that demonstrate a commitment to actionable and achievable projects contributing to the nutritional health of adult populations. The remaining new grants, funded by FFAR, will go to three teams whose projects focus on agriculture communities.

Over the two-year grant period, grantees will design, implement and evaluate actionable community-based projects for sustainable food systems that improve human health and nutrition. Each of the eight grantee teams will receive $50,000 to support and expand their project. All grantees will also have the opportunity to participate in a communications training workshop to learn how to effectively amplify the work they’re doing across North America. An additional $10,000 will be awarded in the fall of 2025 to the team with the strongest communications plan.

Teams should include four core team members representing diverse disciplines related to food systems, including, but not limited to, agriculture, urban planning, nutrition, health, economics, community food access, and social, behavioral, or environmental sciences. All team members must actively work together on the project rather than serving exclusively in an advisory role. At least one team member must be a faculty member from a U.S. or Canadian institution of higher education.

For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research website.

Deadline: February 14, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. ET