June 2020, Rishon Le’zion

During its meeting held June 1st, the BARD board of directors approved the funding of grants and fellowships of joint US Israel agriculture research and development in the sum of $7.3 million. Among the grant recipients, there are fourteen early career scientists who are less than five years away from their first institutional appointment.

The twenty-four research projects approved include a wide range of fields within agricultural research and development; agricultural economics, agricultural engineering, animal production, animal health, crop health and production, water and renewable resources, and food production. This year, BARD will also grant ten postdoctoral fellowships through the BARD-Va'adia fellowship program, four BARD senior research fellowships supporting American scientists who will conduct research in Israel, and two joint U.S.-Israel workshops.

BARD runs a rigorous and competitive process that allows good research projects to reach application in the field. The fund supports academic excellence and young scientists. Fifty percent of the research grant recipients are early career scientists who are less than five years away from their first institutional appointment. They get an opportunity to work side-by-side with leading, experienced scientists, thus acquiring a crucial body of knowledge and expertise.

Yoram Kapulnik, BARD's executive director said: "This year we are facing many challenges as the coronavirus pandemic poses a threat to food security all over the world. The Ag research and development community has been influenced by this crisis yet the great minds in research and development will also be the ones to lead us safely towards finding new solutions and coping with the various challenges that have arisen. The wide array of research proposals approved is a testament to the excellent and innovative agriculture research communities both in the U.S. and in Israel.

Over the past 40 years BARD has funded more than 1330 research projects with a total investment of $315 million. Research outputs led to approximately 200 new agricultural practices, 40 commercial engagements, and 100 patent-series and breeding rights licenses. These excellent results serve as a growth engine to both the Israeli and US economies and agricultural communities. We have found that is a truly synergistic partnership over 80% of BARD researchers continued to collaborate with their American or Israeli partners (even once the funding from BARD is completed)”.

Full list of funded research grants and fellowships: