The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Invests Almost $18 Million in Small Business-led Innovations.

The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced yesterday that it is increasing its investments in small business innovation by almost $18 million in research grants to further create revolutionary agricultural solutions.

These research projects are funded by NIFA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, and each one offers an innovative or disruptive solution spanning nine issue areas ranging from food science and nutrition to natural resource conservation. The initiative focuses on early-stage private-sector ventures that have the potential to provide large public benefits, and it increases the role of government research and development in assisting small firms, many of which are owned by women or historically underrepresented communities.

"The initiatives we're supporting with this new round of financing display scientific uniqueness, technological feasibility, and high commercial promise," said Dr. Dionne Toombs, Acting Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. "Through this study, our small company partners are assisting in the resolution of some of our most difficult agricultural challenges."

A quarter of the 28 awards announced today will go to woman- or minority-owned firms from Hawaii to Michigan to Maine. Among these projects are the following:

NanoSUR, LLC, based in Miami, Florida, is creating a gene-targeted pesticide for the red imported fire ant, a specialized and dangerous crop pest, that is safe for both persons handling it and the environment ($650,000).

Bridgewater, New Jersey-based Optimal Solutions, Inc. is developing a revolutionary soil analysis technique that combines an on-site soil sample technology with machine learning to reward more proactive soil management ($650,000).

Radical Plastics, a small business based in Marblehead, Massachusetts, is developing a new technology to produce soil biodegradable plastic mulch films that solve the limitations of current technologies while allowing farmers to increase crop yields, conserve water, energy, and fertilizers, and reduce labor and farming costs ($650,000).

Simonpietri Enterprises, LLC, a small corporation in Kailua, Hawaii, is developing a fuel refining technique that can convert urban wood waste and construction and demolition debris into less expensive jet fuel ($650,000).

Springtide Seaweed, a small enterprise in Gouldsboro, Maine, is upgrading nursery and farm seaweed growth technologies in order to diversify the US seaweed sector beyond low-value brown kelp harvests and into more valued crops such as nori and dulse ($650,000).

View the full list of the 28 Small Business Innovation Research projects that have been funded:

Forests and Related Resources (three prizes totaling $1,900,000)

(3 prizes totaling $1,849,000) in Plant Production and Protection (Biology).

Animal Protection and Production (2 prizes totaling $1,290,088)

Natural Resource Conservation (2 prizes totaling $1,299,939)

Food Science and Nutrition (three prizes totaling $1,949,851)

Rural and Community Development (three prizes totaling $1,949,958)

Aquaculture (2 prizes totaling $1,242,975)

Farms of Small and Medium Size (3 prizes totaling $1,949,867)

Plant Protection and Production (Engineering) (7 awards totaling $4,394,828)

NIFA invests in and supports agricultural research, education, and Extension around the country in order to create transformational discoveries that address social concerns. NIFA promotes projects that assure agriculture's long-term viability and uses an integrated strategy to ensure that new discoveries in agriculture-related sciences and technology reach the people who can put them to use. NIFA's total investment in FY 2021 was $1.96 billion.