Location: Livestock, Forage and Pasture Management Research Unit
Project Number: 3070-21500-001-016-I
Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement
Start Date: Jan 1, 2024
End Date: Sep 30, 2025
Objective:
This interagency agreement will serve as a parent agreement for the ARS units that will receive funding from the USDA/FAS. In June of 2022, the White House issued the Global Fertilizer Challenge in response to the global fertilizer crisis. In response to the Challenge, and with financial support from the U.S. Department of State USDA developed the Fertilize Right initiative. In Brazil, Fertilize Right will support agricultural research collaboration between United States' and Brazil's national agricultural research institutions—USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), University of Florida, and the Brazil Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA)—to promote the efficient and effective use of fertilizer. The initiative will also explore the use of alternatives to traditional manufactured chemical fertilizers to improve soil health and soil fertility.
Approach:
Four broad research themes emerged from deliberations amongst the partners after a preliminary workshop and discussion within the steering committee. Over the course of several months, the four teams that had never worked together prior to this initiative, developed and refined proposals that could be used for a proposal targeting a million dollars split amongst the three partners. Later, the proposals were adjusted to start work with approximately $300,000 per group that was available for disbursal.
