The 2018 Farm Bill continues financial support of multiple programs and initiatives including the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR). The new farm bill includes $185 million in funding for agricultural research through FFAR’s unique public-private partnerships.
“I think what we’ve demonstrated over the course of the last year is that this model really works and that we’re able to leverage tax-payer dollars with additional funding. In fact, we bring in more than a one-to-one match on our funding,” FFAR Executive Director Sally Rockey described how that funding is spent on their research efforts. “So, it’s a great model and we really are working on great projects in the innovation space.”
FFAR was originally established in the 2014 Farm Bill and a means to develop partnerships between industry, nonprofit and academic institutions to further scientific research to better agriculture. “They come together where they have shared goals and objectives and work in what we call the ‘pre-competitive space’, or the space where everyone can work on similar issues that are going to impact them all each individually but can be worked on together,” Rockey noted.