Location: Responsive Agricultural Food Systems Research Unit
Project Number: 3093-51530-001-002-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 15, 2021
End Date: Sep 14, 2024
Objective:
A need exists for adapting agriculture and food supply systems to reduce the major gaps that exists in nutrition research at the critical intersection of responsive agriculture, quality food production, human nutrition and health; to lower rates of diet-related chronic disease and reduce health care costs of Americans. The primary objective of this agreement is to develop the research program infrastructure and foundation through capacity-building efforts to permit a cooperative, integrated, and multi-disciplinary research program conducted by Texas A&M Agrilife and the USDA, Agricultural Research Service that will better understand how agriculture and human nutrition needs can more precisely align to improve human health.
The goal of this agreement includes the support and execution of the necessary refurbishment / renovation of the cooperator’s facility (Borlaug Center) to provide updated research laboratories and other space. Accomplishing the refurbishment/renovations will provide a state-of-the-science research facility permitting the parties to conduct cooperative research studies addressing the alignment of agriculture and human nutrition needs that improve human health.
Approach:
Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the USDA, Agricultural Research Service (the parties) will create a new cooperative research program named the "Center for Systems Approaches to Responsive Agriculture" (The Program).
This Program will operate within the "Institute for Advancing Health through Agriculture" (IAH) that is administratively located within Texas A&M AgriLife Research and housed in the Borlaug Center on the Texas A&M System campus in College Station, TX. Establishment of this new Center for Systems Approaches to Responsive Agriculture will require significant infrastructure development to enable state-of-the-science research activities by the parties.
