GroundBreaker Prize to Fund Critical Water Research

NEW YORK — The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and FoodShot Global (FSG), a collaborative capital investment platform that catalyzes innovation for a healthier, more sustainable and more equitable food system, announced a FoodShot focusing on water. The 2023 FoodShot, Water: The Essential Input, is investing in and catalyzing innovations that protect water as an essential limited resource for both aquatic and land-based food production. FFAR is contributing up to $200,000, which is being matched for a total of up to $575,000 to support pioneering water research through FoodShot’s GroundBreaker Prize.

“Water and sustainable agriculture are inexorably linked,” said Dr. LaKisha Odom, FFAR Soil Health scientific program director. “FFAR is honored to partner with FoodShot Global to invest in research to protect our water cycle, which is threatened by climate change and pollution that is causing water for land-based agriculture to be scarce and our oceans less productive.”

This year’s GroundBreaker Prize will invest in entrepreneurs, researchers or advocates whose research improves and protects water use for aquatic and land-based food and agriculture. It also provides the recipients with guidance, mentorship and resources to maximize the impact and scale of their research.

FoodShot No. 4: Water, the Essential Input will fund research that has the potential for scale and impact and considers how water cycles interact with the three previous FoodShots, related to soil health, precision protein and bioactive foods. FoodShot No. 4 seeks solutions to address: 

• Mitigating and adapting to the multiple threats of climate change on the water cycle as related to food production.
• Overuse and contamination of water that impacts food production, ecosystems, biodiversity and human health.
• Disruptions to water cycles connecting land- and water-based systems.
• Unsustainable aquatic food production (overfishing or damaging water-based farming).
• Equitable access to aquatic foods and wealth creation for indigenous and low-income coastal communities that are especially affected by climate change.

“We see common ailments facing both land-based and water-based food systems — extractive practices that deplete natural resources, loss of biodiversity and pollution — and climate change looms as a threat multiplier,” said Sara Eckhouse, FSG’s executive director. “We’re looking for those bold ideas, innovative companies and groundbreaking individuals that can shift the paradigm.”

Applications are due Dec. 1. For more information and to apply, visit www.foodshot.org.