The Conservation, Food, and Health Foundation awarded $472,007 in grants at its spring meeting.

Some of the grants that we will be following with interest relate to advancing new technologies. Venture Strategies for Health and Development, for example, will be testing of the use of text-messaging to reduce post-partum hemmorage in Zambia. In Israel, the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies will test a low-cost water desalinator that can irrigate crops in very dry areas.

Projects supporting small farmers in developing countries were well represented in its portfolio.

Capacity building of local agricultural research and extension organizations continues to be of interest to the Foundation.  Grants to the Lambi Fund and the University of Florida, for example, will develop centers that help farmers in Haiti and Benin, respectively, increase productivity and reduce crop damage due to pests.

To read the grants list, click here.