UC Davis agricultural researchers will receive $40 million in new federal funding to support research projects aimed at helping farmers deal with climate change and developing sustainable bio-energy sources.

Roger Beachy, director of USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, will announce the grant awards along with UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi and Neal Van Alfen, dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, at a 10 a.m. press conference tomorrow at UC Davis.

The two research awards are being made through the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, a flagship competitive grant program established by the 2008 Farm Bill, according to a media advisory produced by UC Davis news service public information representative Pat Bailey.

The grant program provides support in the following priority areas:

• Plant health and production and plant products
• Animal health and production and animal products
• Food safety, nutrition and health
• Agricultural economics and rural communities