UA ag center leads $30M program
Goal is to improve crop output with better phenotyping
MARICOPA — The University of Arizona Maricopa Agricultural Center is at the forefront of agricultural development.
Partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, the center is bringing together computer science, engineering and biology to create better crops.
The specific program — the Transportation Energy Resources from Renewable Agriculture — is a $30 million initiative focused on improving crop productivity, specifically in energy sorghum, which is used for biofuels.
At the heart of the process lies a strong look into phenotyping a plant. Today’s technology has primarily focused on genotyping, which identifies the genetic characteristics of plants. This technology has become fairly advanced with a drop in the cost of genotyping in the last 10 to 20 years.
