MANHATTAN, KAN. — Kansas State University will lead a program to make agriculture more resilient to varying management practices, climates and extreme weather events.

The university was chosen to manage the Climate Resilient Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab (CRSIIL) with funding of up to $50 million over the next five years. CRSIIL is part of the US Agency for International Development’s Feed the Future program.

The CRSIIL will conduct research to develop and adapt technologies to increase agricultural productivity on less land with fewer environmental tradeoffs, said Dina Esposito, deputy coordinator for development at Feed the Future.

Vara Prasad, the lab’s director, university distinguished professor and the RO Kruse endowed professor in KSU’s Agronomy Department, said the new project continues the work managed during the past 10 years by KSU’s Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab, or SIIL, a $75 million project that he also led. The new project, he said, includes an emphasis on climate resilience in crops.

Funding for the previous SIIL ended earlier this year. The new award is for five years, at which time Prasad said it could be renewed for an additional $50 million and five years, based on the progress and availability of funds. All told, KSU’s support from USAID to study sustainable intensification over a 20-year period could top $175 million.

“I think what this new award shows is USAID’s trust in Kansas State University, as well as our commitment to our program and what we are capable of doing,” Prasad said.

KSU will lead a project with partners in eight countries: Cambodia, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Senegal, Ghana, Guatemala and Honduras. Prasad said work in these countries will serve as “test beds” for discoveries that can be applied around the world, including Kansas and the United States.

The partnership includes forming a Digital and Decision Agriculture consortium to develop improved tools to assist farmers in the United States and partner countries, “to become more efficient, productive, profitable and equitable,” Prasad said.

Prasad said CRSIIL’s work focuses on five areas:

• Climate adaptation, mitigation and resilience
• Improved use of resources and input use efficiency
• Soil fertility management and soil health
• Ecological intensification and nature-positive solutions
• A circular bioeconomy and use of renewables

Prasad said the team’s past work with SIIL over the last 10 years — in combination with US and foreign partners — supported as many as 120 organizations, 150 researchers, 275 students and 40,000 farmers. The indirect impact will be much larger than that.

But, Prasad added, “it’s not about the numbers.”

“This work is about individuals, meaning lives and livelihoods,” he said. “Imagine these 275 students 5 years from now, or 10 years from now, and how many lives they are going to touch. More importantly, when somebody’s life changes because of work you do, you can’t put an economic value on that.

“That’s why I’m very passionate about doing this work. If it was just about numbers, we could reach those numbers, but it’s not just a check mark for us. We want to make a positive impact, change the lives of people and then make sure it’s done right so that they also develop the passion to help others.”