News
$24.5 Million Extension Award Received
We are pleased to announce that the Feed the Future Innovation Lab Collaborative Research on Grain Legumes, known as the Dry Grain Pulses Collaborative Research Support Program (Pulse CRSP) from 2007 to 2012 and now to be called the Legume Innovation Lab, has been awarded a $24.5 million extension for 4.5 years, through September 29, 2017.
SAWBO featured on Big Ten Network
The research work of Pulse CRSP PI Dr. Barry Pittendrigh (PI-UIUC-1) was featured on the Big Ten Network in February 2013.
Link to main video article
Legume Innovation Lab Directors Interviewed at 2012 World Food Prize
Dr. Irv Widders, director, and Dr. Cynthia Donovan, deputy director, Legume Innovation Lab, were interviewed at the 2012 World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa, in December 2012, on how grain legumes contribute to Feed the Future Strategic Initiatives. Link to Video.
Deadlines
(This column is updated regularly to reflect vital information for researchers and managers connected to PULSE CRSP projects and grants. If nothing is listed, nothing is immediately due.)
Genetic Improvement
Increasing Pulse Productivity through Genetic Improvement
- Improved varieties of bean and cowpea with high yield potential, resistance to economically significant diseases and insect pests, and grain quality attributes demanded by markets
- Improved varieties of bean and cowpea with adaptation to drought, high temperatures, and low soil fertility, factors associated with climate change
Combining Conventional, Molecular and Farmer Participatory Breeding Approaches to Improve Andean Beans for Resistance to Biotic and Abiotic Stresses. PIs: James Kelly and Sieglinda Snapp, Michigan State University; George Abawi, Cornell University; Eduardo Peralta, Instituto Nacional de Investigacion Agropuecuaria (INIAP), Ecuador; and Louis Butare, Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda (ISAR), Rwanda. MSU-1
Development, Testing and Dissemination of Genetically Improved Bean Cultivars for Central America, the Caribbean and Angola. PIs: James Beaver and Consuelo Estevez, University of Puerto Rico; Timothy Porch, USDA-ARS Tropical Agriculture Research Station-Mayaguez, Puerto Rico; Juan Carlos Rosas, Escuela Agrícola Panamericana-Zamorano (EAP), Honduras; Emmanuel Prophete, National Seed Program, Ministry of Agriculture, Haiti; and António Chicapa Dovala, Instituto de Investigação Agronómica (IIA), Angola. UPR-1
Modern Cowpea Breeding to Overcome Critical Production Constraints in Africa and the U.S. PIs: Philip Roberts and Jeff Ehlers, University of California-Riverside; Ndiaga Cisse, Centre National Recherches Agronomie-Bambey, Institut Senegalais de Recherches Agricole (ISRA), Senegal; Issa Drabo, Institut de l’Environment et des Recherches Agricole (INERA), Burkina Faso; and Antonio Chicapa Dovala, Instituto Investigacao Agronomica (IIA), Angola. UCR-1
Announcements & Opportunities
U.S. Borlaug Summer Institute
The U.S. Borlaug Fellows in Global Food Security Program is offering a two-week learning program for graduate students interested in developing a holistic understanding of the conceptual challenges around global food security with a focus on cross-disciplinary problem solving of real-world development challenges. For more information, click here.
