Congratulations to the winners of the 2024 FFAR Fellows Lightning Talk Competition!
The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research Fellows, the FFAR Fellows, are 170 PhD students from 35+ universities across the U.S. and Canada studying agronomy, food science, genomics, biosystems engineering, and a dozen other fields in food and agriculture.
What brings these graduate students together? The desire to work with others to address the grand challenges in food and agriculture while building the teamwork, leadership, and change-making skills needed to meet those challenges. The annual FFAR Fellows Lightning Talk Competition is a way for fellows to create and practice their science communication skills in a supportive peer-mentorship environment, and then share their talks with the public. A committee of science professionals select the winners.
To learn more about the FFAR Fellows, funded by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research and industry and other sponsors, and managed by the College of Agriculture and Life Science at NC State University, explore our website FFARFellows.org and follow us on social (see links at the top of the page).
First Place
The Super Warrior Peanut: Solving Genetic Instability in Cultivated Peanut
By Samuele Lamon, 2022-2025 FFAR Fellow
Second Place
Honey Bee Feeds and High Quality Seeds
By Riley Reed, 2022-2025 FFAR Fellow
Third Place
Super Poop: Closing the Loop for Soil Health
By Madeline Desjardins, 2022-2025 FFAR Fellow
Other finalists in the 2024 competition
Weathering Yields: Insurance Plays an Important Role in Crop Forecast
By Randi Butler, 2022-2025 FFAR Fellow
If Only I Knew: Data-Driven Decision-Making in Agriculture
By Vini Garnica, 2022-2025 FFAR Fellow
Save Soil with Next-Gen Landcover
By Oluwatuyi Olowoyeye, 2023-2026 FFAR Fellow
Strategic Mapping for Planting Corn Effectively
By Nikee Shrestha, 2022-2025 FFAR Fellow
Reducing Dairy Methane to Cool the Planet: One Farm at a Time
By Conor McCabe, 2021-2024 FFAR Fellow
Smart Farming: Partnering with Wheat Farmers to Optimize Fungicide Use
By Olanrewaju Shittu, 2022-2025 FFAR Fellow
Climate Change Challenges Our Queen and King
By Sujata Bogati, 2022-2025 FFAR Fellow