A statewide initiative to put more healthy, climate-friendly grains on people鈥檚 plates has received a $19 million boost, which will sustain every step in building a network from the field to the fork.

The initiative, a public-private partnership led by Washington State University with support from the 91探花, received a $10 million BioInnovation Grant from the and matching funds from several other organizations, including more than $3 million from the Washington Grain Commission.

It targets a global health problem: the lack of whole grains in people鈥檚 diets, which contributes to widespread health problems.

The funding will allow WSU researchers to continue developing new crop varieties for farmers. It will fuel efforts to bring more whole grains to the public, including into school lunchrooms and will expand Washington state鈥檚 commercial infrastructure for storing, transporting, milling and marketing whole grains. The funding will also support the establishment of a commercial kitchen at the 91探花to help entrepreneurs bring whole-grain foods to market.

鈥淭his work is about making sure that nutritious grains reach the people who need them,鈥� said , a professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the UW. 鈥淏y understanding the policies, systems, and human decisions that shape food production and the supply chain for school meals, we can help bridge the gap between innovation and impact.鈥�

Two teams of 91探花researchers will contribute to this effort.听

, professor of industrial & systems engineering and of mechanical engineering at the UW, will help lead development of ready-to-eat meals and will support private organizations using 91探花facilities to produce sample meals for school breakfast and lunch.听

The UW鈥檚 implementation science team, which includes Otten, assistant professor of environmental and occupational health sciences , and assistant professor of epidemiology , will examine how innovations in grain breeding and food product development can be successfully adopted in school settings. They will study what policy, budgetary, and social factors help ensure that new whole grain and legume varieties are embraced across the supply chain and, ultimately, by school-aged children who rely on them for the nutrition they need to grow and thrive.

This team will also lead study-away programs, where students can learn about new whole grains and legumes in both urban and rural areas of Washington state. Curriculum from these five-week summer programs will be made publicly available.听

鈥淭he timing of the grant is perfect,鈥� said , a WSU professor of international seed and cropping systems and director of the WSU Breadlab, who will lead the grant work. 鈥淲e鈥檙e right at the stage where we鈥檝e got a critical mass of cross-disciplinary research, encompassing a range of agricultural, food and health sciences. Now we can start commercializing, getting these crop varieties to farmers, getting whole grains on our plates and into schools.鈥�

The grant funding will be matched by contributions from the Washington Grain Commission, the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council, the American Heart Association, The Land Institute, and food and technology companies.

鈥淭his is truly a historic investment for Washington farmers,鈥� said Casey Chumrau, CEO of the Washington Grain Commission.

Adapted from . For more information or to reach the project team, contact Alden Woods at acwoods@uw.edu or WSU鈥檚 Shawn Vestal at shawn.vestal@wsu.edu.

Joth Davis adjusted his waders and stepped into the cool waters of Thorndyke Bay, his Crocs disappearing under a layer of thick, forest-green seaweed. Behind him, jagged Olympic peaks poked above the hilltops. Before him stretched 30 acres of oysters, clams and geoducks 鈥� the shellfish farm he鈥檇 run for 35 years. 听

A hundred feet from shore, Davis stooped over and reached a hand toward the muck, where a native cockle clam sat on the surface. 鈥淭his right here,鈥� he said, scooping up the clam, 鈥渢his is the problem.鈥澨�

Under ideal conditions, cockles bury themselves in sand or mud, resting in shallow waters. But the conditions at are not always ideal. Every summer, Davis and shellfish farmers across the Washington coastline contend with an abundance of , a native seaweed that flourishes in tidelands. Commonly called 鈥渟ea lettuce,鈥� Ulva grows thick and heavy. Left unmitigated, it can smother life underneath.听

Some shellfish, like the cockle in Davis鈥檚 hand, can force themselves through the sludge and onto the surface, where they鈥檙e more likely to survive. Others 鈥� including the oysters and geoducks that are the heart of Baywater鈥檚 business 鈥� can only suffer on the seabed.听听

鈥淭oo much seaweed grows in proliferation, and just piles up on top of the (shellfish). We definitely have seen mortalities among geoducks because of the Ulva,鈥� said Davis, who is also a trained marine biologist and affiliate professor of aquatic and fisheries sciences at the UW. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 getting worse.鈥�听

For years, Baywater has removed excess Ulva by hand. Teams of workers hunch over to scoop fistfuls of seaweed into oversized buckets. It鈥檚 an expensive, time-consuming, laborious process that creates yet another conundrum 鈥� what to do with hundreds of pounds of unwanted seaweed.听听

Researchers at the 91探花 saw an opportunity. Ulva is rich in carbon and other nutrients, which can cause problems when left in the sea. But those same nutrients are vital for land-based agriculture. What if shellfish farmers like Davis could turn all that extra seaweed into an organic soil amendment for vegetable farms?听听

鈥淚t seemed like a real no-brainer,鈥� said Sarah Collier, a 91探花assistant professor of environmental and occupational health sciences and the project lead. 鈥淲hat has been a problem for shellfish farms could be a great opportunity for farms on land.鈥澨�

That insight led to , a multi-year collaboration between the UW, Baywater Shellfish, , Washington State University, and farm business incubator The project aimed to test the viability of Ulva as a soil amendment, and, if successful, develop a market for sea-based farmers to sell excess seaweed to their counterparts on land. Along the way, Collier鈥檚 team would study the supply chain鈥檚 agricultural, economic and climate impacts.听听

Project leaders hoped their findings would help to solve a problem faced not only in Washington, but also in coastal communities around the globe.听听

鈥淥ur farm is really a research platform,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e doing this because it helps the farm, but it鈥檚 really the science that we want.鈥澨�听

In December 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded the program nearly $5 million over five years. The project launched the following year, removing more than 17,000 pounds of seaweed from shellfish beds and applying it to crops on four local farms, who received financial support for their participation.听听

The project generated widespread excitement. Anecdotes from participating farms suggested an increased crop yield, and nearly 70 farms expressed interest in participating in the second year. The project team built a prototype raft-based system to accelerate seaweed removal. Early data suggested a significant economic benefit.听

Then the USDA pulled the plug. In April 2025, federal officials canceled a $3 billion initiative to fund climate-forward agricultural projects such as Blue Carbon, Green Fields.听听

鈥淲e had to immediately shut everything down,鈥� Collier said. Now the project is at a standstill: Farmers who had been eager to participate were unable to do so, and researchers haven鈥檛 been able to fully analyze the first year鈥檚 data. The raft-based harvester sits ready, but has no supply chain for the seaweed it collects.听

As the summer unfolds, project leaders have scrambled to maintain what they can, collecting essential data and storing seaweed samples for later analysis. Collier is searching for alternative funding and working with the USDA to potentially tweak the project to fit the Trump administration鈥檚 priorities.听听

For now, though, a solution to the seaweed problem remains just out of reach.听听

鈥淭he thing that’s really frustrating is that this is absolutely a win-win,鈥� Collier said. 鈥淚t makes sense. It solves a problem. It鈥檚 just something that makes sense from every perspective whether you’re thinking about the economics, the environmental impacts or听 building resilience and health in the system. It just makes sense from every possible angle.听

鈥淪o to have to stop doing this work is just so frustrating.鈥�听

Understanding Washington residents鈥� access to food and their economic well-being 鈥� or lack of it 鈥� during the COVID-19 pandemic is vital for state and community partners to identify those needs and allocate resources effectively.

To help accomplish this goal, the 91探花, Washington State University and Tacoma Community College, along with input from partners in local, county and state governments 鈥� such as the Washington State Department of Health and the Washington State Department of Agriculture 鈥� are conducting a series of .

The first wave of this series of surveys was conducted in June and July, and 2,621 Washington residents from 38 of 39 counties responded. Now researchers are recruiting participants in the survey鈥檚 second wave.

鈥淭he first survey found that food insecurity was high among state residents, and that the majority of food insecure households had children. We also found disparities in the burden of food insecurity by income, race, ethnicity and educational attainment,鈥� said听, one of the leaders of the survey team and a 91探花associate professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the School of Public Health.

Specifically, the first wave of the found:

• Food insecurity was high, alarmingly so, in the summer following the state shutdown, affecting an estimated 30% of households, exacerbating pre-existing social inequities.
• Highest rates of food insecurity 鈥� 58% 鈥� were observed among households below the poverty line.
• Households having members with some or no college education were also disproportionately impacted with 44% of respondents experiencing food insecurity.
• 42% of respondents of color experienced food insecurity.
• About 40% of all survey participants reported that their diet got worse.
• Participants reported being concerned about safety in supermarkets and grocery stores, rising food costs, access and transportation.
• Post Covid-19 diets had more eggs, rice, beans, pasta and peanut butter but less meat, seafood and milk and dairy.
• Store bought cakes and cookies decreased but there was a sharp increase in cooking at home.

鈥淥ur findings听also helped to characterize which and how food assistance programs were working for Washington residents as well as where additional changes might be needed to better support their food needs. Public agencies and anti-hunger networks held the survey up as useful in informing their programs and distribution and outreach needs,鈥� Otten said.

Complete results of the first survey are available .

The second wave of the currently is underway and runs until mid-January.

Survey questions ask about access to food and food assistance, employment conditions and financial needs, as well as diet quality and health. The survey takes about 15 minutes or less to complete and is open to all Washington State residents age 18 years or older.

鈥淲ave 2 will monitor the continuing impact of the pandemic on economic- and food-related wellbeing eight months after the initial lockdown. We hope to continue to add more waves of data collection to monitor the ongoing situation,鈥� Otten said. 鈥淭he data collected will be used by legislators, public agencies and anti-hunger networks to allocate听resources, provide support and promote the recovery of Washington residents.鈥�

The 91探花team included School of Public Health faculty and staff: , , ;听,听,听听and听, all affiliated with the 91探花Center for Public Health Nutrition. Washington State University was represented by , director of the Food Systems Program, and Tacoma Community College by听, professor of health, business and profession services.听This project is supported by a charitable donation from the Ballmer Group.

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For more information, contact Otten at jotten@uw.edu.