http://horticulture.ucdavis.edu/
The Horticulture Innovation Lab builds international partnerships for fruit and vegetable research to improve livelihoods in developing countries. The program is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and led by a team at the University of California, Davis, as part of the U.S. government's Feed the Future initiative.
The program began in 2009 when USAID selected UC Davis to lead a $14.6 million, five-year program called the Horticulture Collaborative Research Support Program (or Hort CRSP). In 2014, the program's name was changed to "Horticulture Innovation Lab," and USAID awarded an additional $18.75 million to UC Davis to continue for five more years.
The program team and its projects help the world's poorest people break out of a persistent cycle of poverty by improving smallholder farmers’ abilities to grow and sell high-value crops. Improving livelihoods — through higher profits and diversified, nutrient-rich diets — is a primary goal for the Horticulture Innovation Lab's research efforts around the world. The program’s work is guided by ensuring gender equity, improving information access, targeting innovative technologies and increasing research capacity.
Horticulture Innovation Lab projects span the value chain of fruit and vegetable production, from seed systems to postharvest processing. Individual projects are led by U.S. university researchers with collaborating partners in developing countries, with funding from $40,000 to $1 million. Collaborations have included more than 18 U.S. universities and 200 organizations in more than 30 countries of Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Through partnerships and collaborative research, the program also aims to build the capacity of researchers, institutions and farmers to advance horticultural science.
