Internal Competitive Grants

Program Overview

The Washington Legislature began funding the Unified Industry-Based Agriculture Initiative in 2009. The Initiative supports an internal competitive grants program at WSU to address emerging research issues (ERI) facing Washington’s agricultural industries. CAHNRS Office of Research provides these funds to faculty as seed money, with the intent that they will be used to generate preliminary data for individual research programs. It is anticipated that this added support will increase the competitiveness of faculty proposals submitted to outside agencies, and will ultimately be leveraged to resolve the problems that challenge the well-being of the agricultural industry and citizens of Washington state.

CAHNRS Office of Research is particularly interested in funding that will allow faculty to pursue new directions, fill knowledge gaps in discovery research, and enhance our capacity to address significant issues facing Washington agriculture. Proposals that incorporate a newly formed research team or work toward establishing high-risk/high-reward proof-of-concept studies are especially encouraged. The ERI program is NOT designed to supplement currently funded projects or as a substitute for other funding. 

July 2021-2023 Projects

• Outputs of gut bioreactor: role of alpha-ketoglutarate.
  Min Du, Meijun Zhu, David Evans, Ben Harlow
• Farmer-led irrigation experimentation: A model for learning and adaptation. 
  Gabe LaHue, Michael Brady, Suzette Galinato        
• Designing Early Seral Ecosystems for Huckleberry Culture and Management in the Pacific Northwest.
  Mark Swanson, Amit Dhingra, Andrew Nelson, Sean Alexander   
• From waste to food: conversion of organic waste substrates into gourmet edible and medicinal mushrooms in Washington.
  David Wheeler, Mark Swanson            
• Electrochemical Signals to Monitor Soil and Crop Health.  
  Maren Friesen, Haluk Beyenal
• Managing Viral Infectious Diseases in Agriculture with Viral-Antiviral Gene Therapy.
  Michael Phelps

July 2022-2024 Projects

• Integration of High Spatial and Temporal Resolution Multiscale Data for Phenomics Applications.
  Sindhuja Sankaran, Mike Pumphrey, Arron Carter, Rebecca McGee
• Promote syntrophic association among microbial species through hydrodynamics and deep learning to augment the performance of industrial anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities.
  Liang Yu and Pavlo Bohutskyi
• Characterization of Stormwater Runoff and its Impact on Soil Quality in Periurban Agricultural Areas: Puget Sound, WA.
  Joan Wu 

2020-2021 Project

• An Integrated Process for Increased Bioenergy Production and Nutrient Recovery during AD of Dairy Manure.
  Birgitte Ahring, Manuel Garcia-Perez
• Enhancing Efficiency of Anaerobic Digestion for Cost Reduction. (2020 only)
  Shulin Chen and Shannon Neibergs
• Engineered Chars for Enhanced Methane Production and Nutrient Recovery from Anaerobic Digestion Effluents.
  Manuel Garcia and Birgitte Ahring
• Producing Algal Biomass Using Dairy Wastewater Nutrients.
  Shulin Chen and Helmut Kirchhoff
• Selective Carbonization of CAFOs Manure Solid Fractions for the Production of High Char Yield Enriched in N and P.
  Manuel Garcia-Perez, Haiying Tao, Tim Murray
• Use of Dairy-Derived Phosphorus as a Sole Phosphorus Source for Alfalfa Production. (2020 only) 
  Joe Harrison and Steve Norberg
• Supporting Communication Between Researchers and External Stakeholders to Improve Appendix A Impact.
  Georgine Yorgey
• Improving the Potential for Nutrient Recovery to Contribute to Improved Nutrient Export and Nutrient Management by Dairies.
  Georgine Yorgey, Deirdre Griffin-LaHue, Kirti Rajagopalan

2021-2022 Projects

• Canola Cropping Systems Research for the Inland Pacific Northwest Wheat-Fallow Region.
  Bill Schillinger
• Influence of Canola on the Microbiome of Rotation Crops and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi.
  Tim Paulitz
• Managing Soil Physical Properties for Improving Emergence in Winter Canola.
  Haly Neely
• Large-Scale Variety Trials, Outreach, and Extension.
  Isaac Madsen and Ian Burke
• Incorporating Oilseeds in Intermediate Rainfed Crop Rotations.
  Arron Esser
• Stand establishment and winter survival in canola.
  Michael Neff

Program Overview

The Orville A. Vogel Wheat Research fund was established to support production-oriented wheat research and to encourage basic and applied research directed towards identifying factors that limit the maximum production capability of wheats grown in the Pacific Northwest. Emphasis, as outlined in the Gift Use Agreement, is given to microbiological limitations to yield, affordable yields as they relate to conservation practices, and the development of varieties that further these goals.

CAHNRS Office of Research is particularly interested in providing funding that will allow faculty to pursue new directions or form new collaborations, fill fundamental knowledge gaps that will enhance our capacity to address significant issues facing Pacific Northwest wheat growers, generate preliminary data that will enhance competiveness for federal funding and/or from corporations that will bring the best science to bear on wheat research. The O.A. Vogel Wheat Research Fund is NOT designed to supplement currently funded projects or as a substitute for other funding.

2019-2021 Projects

• Molecular Mapping and Developing Markers for New Genes for Stripe Rust Resistance in Winter Wheat Germplasm.
  Xianming Chen and Lori Carris
• Genomic selection as a tool to introgress complex and novel traits into adapted wheat germplasm.
  Arron Carter, Kim Campbell, Zhiwu Zhang
• Two sides of the same germination coin: How the gibberellin (GA) hormone receptor regulates late maturity α-amylase (LMA) and preharvest sprouting (PHS) in wheat.
  Amber Hauvermale and Mike Pumphrey
• Impact of Biochar and Fly Ash Application to Agricultural Soils on Soil Health and Crop Productivity.
  Tim Murray and Haiying Tao
• Omics approaches to deciphering combinatorial stress in spring and winter wheat.
  Karen Sanguinet and Kim Garland Campbell
• Improving wheat yield under heat and drought stress by harnessing plant rejuvenation processes.
  Andrei Smertenko

2022-2024 Projects

• Developing Virulence-related KASP Markers for Monitoring Wheat Stripe Rust Pathogen Populations.
  Xianming Chen and Tim Murray
• Developing tools for improving heat and drought resiliency of spikes.
  Andrei Smertenko
• Providing a Long-Term Solution Soil Acidity in PNW Wheat Production through Soil Microbial Carbonate Biosynthesis.
  Tarah Sullivan, Michael Pumphrey, Karen Sanguinet
• Interactions among soil health, wheat genetics and nutrition in acidifying soils in Washington. 
  Kim Garland Campbell and Tim Paulitz

Program Overview

For state tax purposes, cider above 7.5% alcohol is considered fruit wine and is taxed by the State Liquor Control Board.  The resulting ¼ cent per liter is sent to WSU for grape and wine research, but that collected from cider will be separated from that collected from wine to expand our cider industry. Initially, the cider tax allocation wasn’t much, but in the last few years, the category has expanded, and it now averages around $30,000 annually to ARC. We expect to be able to provide approximately $35K annually for cider research and possibly more if funds have accumulated are available for spending. We, therefore, expect to fund at least one, possibly two, proposals for $35K/year for up to three years.

We will prioritize proposals that clearly articulate how their research will address current deficiencies in cider fruit or cider production in Washington. Collaborative research and training of graduate and/or undergraduate students in cider research is also strongly encouraged. Small equipment needs will also be considered.

2020-2022 Projects

• Development and validation of a capillary electrophoresis method for the detection and quantification of free and bound sulfur dioxide species in ciders.
  Tom Collins and James Harbertson
• Controlling off-odor formation in commercial hard ciders.
  Charles Edwards and Brianna Ewing