On this week’s Hemp Podcast, Lancaster Farming talks to Saharah Moon Chapotin, executive director of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR).

the Foundation was established in the 20124 Farm Bill

“We were given the unique mandate by Congress to form public private partnerships to support food and agriculture research,” she said, “really recognizing the dearth of or the decreasing amount of public funding going to agriculture research, and with the idea towards leveraging additional resources from non-federal sources, from the private sector and others.”

FFAR’s research spans a wide array of ag topics, Chapotin said.

“We focus on the sustainability of the agriculture system itself, looking at soil and water and how farmers can have the tools they need to make good decisions around really safeguarding their environment and their agriculture systems,” she said.

FFAR’s research digs into food systems as well.

“Thinking about what those in the food system need in order to deliver the foods that consumers need and want, the nutritious foods that they need to access at the store, thinking about processing and ingredients and the nutritional content of those foods," Chapotin said.

One of the methods of raising money for research is by building consortia among universities, government, and industry players.

“What is really valuable about our consortia to those industry players is that it de-risks the investment for them,’ she said.

“We're not counting on any one company to support all the research that would be needed to generate the outcome, say, for more sustainable agriculture. But they can co-invest and so that de-risk the investment for them. It often also gives companies a chance to collaborate with their competitor, something they would not normally do on their own.”

One such consortium is the Hemp Research Consortium, which brings together such diverse partners as North Carolina state, Cornell University, Agilent Technologies, IND HEMP, and ScottsMiracle-Grow.

On this episode of the podcast, we’ll learn about FFAR and the work they do and how industrial hemp fits into the overall mission.

Learn more about the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research https://foundationfar.org/

Learn More about FFAR's Hemp Consortium https://foundationfar.org/consortia/hemp-research-consortium/

Sign up for FFAR's newsletter https://foundationfar.org/home/newsletter-sign-up/

News Nuggets

Hungry Sheep Devour Over 600 Pounds of Cannabis After Invading Greenhousehttps://www.newsweek.com/hungry-sheep-devour-over-600-pounds-cannabis-invading-greenhouse-1829170

Is hemp the superfood vegetarians have been waiting for?https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230922/Is-hemp-the-superfood-vegetarians-have-been-waiting-for.aspx

GreenBuild 2023 https://informaconnect.com/greenbuild/

HempWood https://hempwood.com/

Americhanvre https://americhanvre.com/

Thanks to our Sponsors!

National Hemp Association https://nationalhempassociation.org/

IND HEMPhttps://indhemp.com/