2017 BIOAg Grant Awards

Dave Crowder will investigate microbial mediation of disease resistance, pollinator attraction, and crop yield in apples. Photo: J & P Donaho, Flickr c.c.

We’ve arrived at the 10th year that CSANR has held a competitive process to select seed projects under the BIOAg Grant Program. This year’s selections bring us to a total of 91 funded project proposals, standard and integrated. The program is one key way that the Center achieves its goal of incubating research and educational activities that advance the sustainability of agriculture in the state. In addition, the program has supported a number of graduate students who have and will pursue careers in academia, industry and community leadership with a focus on sustainability.

As with most years, this year’s funding awards are extremely diverse.  Projects include both research and extension, and range from basic laboratory science to applied projects managed cooperatively in farmers’ fields. The projects cover everything from nitrogen fixation to drought management; from pest control and pollinators to malting, distilling, and brewing. The diversity and creativity of the funded projects is a reflection on the incredible diversity and creativity that we see on a daily basis in Washington’s food and agriculture community.

Stephen Bramwell will evaluate barley varieties for western WA craft malting, brewing, & distilling. Photos L-R: A. Gilson, D. Shea, & K. Koob via Flickr c.c.

Listed below is a table of investigators and project titles for this year’s selections. Follow the links to learn more about each project. You can also visit our grants database to learn about what has happened in past BIOAg projects. To date, this relatively modest investment of University resources has enabled WSU faculty and partners to leverage significant additional support to advance research and educational projects that improve the environment, increase farm profitability, and improve the human sustainability of agriculture and the food system.

PI Co PI Title
Bramwell Murphy, Collins From Ground to Glass: Evaluation of unique barley varieties for western Washington craft malting, brewing and distilling
Crowder Schaeffer Examining microbial mediation of disease resistance, pollinator attraction, and crop yield in apple crops
DeVetter Snyder, Gerdeman,  Arrington Evaluating the Impacts of Border Vegetation Patterns on Multifunctional Biodiversity and Crop Production in Washington Blueberry
Kahn Increasing legume nodulation for improved symbiotic nitrogen fixation
Smertenko Sanguinet Capturing drought-avoidance genotypes using peroxisome proliferation readout
Sosnoskie Burke, Granatstein Breaking bindweed: Can plant growth regulators disrupt apical dominance, deplete a persistent bud bank, and improve the control of perennial weed species in specialty crops?
Tanaka Hadwiger Biodegradable peptides as triggers of plant defense against pathogens and pests
Tao Michel, Johnson, Burke, Hulbert, Sullivan,  Carpenter-Boggs, Hudson Sustainable Crop-Livestock Integration for System Health in the Dryland Inland Pacific Northwest