Location: Food Systems Research Unit
Project Number: 8090-21600-001-010-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2025
End Date: Nov 30, 2026
Objective:
The overarching objective of this agreement is to improve the performance of Northeastern food systems in terms of productivity, economic viability, environmental quality, nutritional benefits, and quality of life. Through collaborative research and stakeholder engagement the Cooperator and the Agency will find solutions to address problems faced by producers, processors, consumers, and other food system actors to improve conditions not just for individual sectors, but for the overall food system.
Approach:
To improve the performance of Northeastern food systems in terms of productivity, economic viability, environmental quality, nutritional benefits, and quality of life, the Cooperator and the Agency will follow a three-pronged approach:
• Advance methods to measure and monitor the environmental, economic, production, health, and social sustainability of Northeastern food systems, including integration of qualitative and quantitative data.
• Develop field, lab and knowledge capacity to conduct food systems research over multiple temporal and spatial scales
• Foster new research ideas through funding for faculty and students, as well as engage in knowledge exchanges.
Cooperator and Agency scientists will test indicators and metrics used to measure and monitor environmental, economic, production, health, and social sustainability in food systems across a range of spatial scales and over time. This builds on previous work to develop a framework for sustainable metrics across these five dimensions. Cooperator and Agency scientists will collect, analyze and interpret primary and secondary data on systems including maple syrup, diversified vegetable production, and diversified dairy, which are all relevant for the Northeast region. They will establish baseline performance and monitor these sustainability metrics over time and space to understand (a) how different metrics are related, (b) how the levels observed compare to benchmarks of desired performance, and (c) how the performance of Northeastern systems is changing.
To increase capacity for holistic and community-engaged food systems research, the Cooperator will enhance its laboratories, field research facilities, and its people. The Cooperator will support research performed by faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and postdoctoral fellows to answer important food systems questions of local, regional, national, or global relevance, including the performance of key Northeastern production systems. The Cooperator will invest in the capacity of its laboratories and research farms to enhance its capabilities in key areas to support its collaborative food systems research with the Agency. Key research areas will include food nutritional composition, soil health, sustainable and nutritious cooking practices, and integrated crop and livestock systems.