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Our Research
Objective 1. Understand and apply the roles of environment, soil, and cropping system
management on soil health, farm economics, and the nutritional content of the grain for each target crop.
Objective 2. Develop new varieties of barley, wheat, peas, lentils, quinoa, and buckwheat with
enhanced health and nutritive value.
Objective 3. Confirm the impact of nutritionally enhanced varieties on key indicators of human
health and assess acceptance using consumer panels.
Objective 4. Develop a diverse and innovative suite of flavorful, affordable, and nutritious food
products that will be accessible to consumers from all income levels.
Objective 5. Conduct population studies to explore impacts on dietary quality by increasing target
crops in US diets and assessing consumer acceptance and valuation of whole grain and
legume-based foods.
Objective 6. Focus our educational capacity on secondary student instruction and teacher
professional development, and farmer training.
Objective 7. Disseminate knowledge gained and products developed to stakeholders across
agriculture, food and health sciences, and communities, schools, and underserved populations through a wide-reaching extension effort.
Soil and Cropping Systems Team
The Soil and Cropping Systems Team is implementing field variety trials to gauge the affects of various management practices on soil health and crop variety. They are working to develop new varieties of barley, wheat, peas, lentils, quinoa, and buckwheat that have higher nutritional values and determine the best practices for successfully growing these varieties, so that this knowledge can be disseminated to farmers through the Extension and Outreach Teams.
Food Science & Products Team
The Food Science & Products Team is working to take the new grain and legume varieties identified by the Soil and Cropping Systems Team to the public by creating affordable, highly nutritious, whole-grain products with them.
Human Health & Nutrition Team
The Human Health & Nutrition Team is evaluating the current trends around the consumption of whole grains in the United States. They will then use this information to produce and market whole grain, value-added products to consumers with the Food Science and Extension and Outreach Teams.
Education, Outreach, and Extension Team
These teams are working throughout the project to develop educational curriculum, student involvement opportunities, farmer education programs, marketing best practices, academic publications, and extension material publications. In doing so, they will ensure the project's findings are adequately disseminated to a diverse audience.
