Woodland, CA – The Center for Produce Safety announced $500,000 is available to fund the center’s first Innovation Challenge. Dave Corsi, chair of the CPS Board of Directors stated, “This is an invitation and opportunity for technology innovators to develop, refine and focus their solutions to meet a critical industry need; identifying evidence or conditions where cross contamination can take place in our growing environments. This program, currently termed GRABIT – (Grower’s Risk Assessment Biomarkers Investigative Tool) is designed to bring tools to the supply chain to manage risk and meet the CPS mission: Fund the science, find solutions and fuel the change.”
The GRABIT challenge was designed to stimulate the development of science-based approaches to support the broader critical knowledge needs in produce safety risk identification, risk intervention, and high-density data development associated with the domesticated animal-specialty crop interface. This is not a tool to look for pathogens, but a tool to look for the evidence of chronic or acute transfer factors from a domesticated animal point source. CPS anticipates that the outcomes of this competitive award-based innovation and development challenge will include a diverse set of grower-oriented and, ideally, on-farm deployed tools — from solid proof-of-concept to pre-commercial beta-test ready kits. The GRABIT challenge is the first of a multipart effort CPS has undertaken to address the priority research needs of the fresh produce supply chain.
April 22 – Applications due by 12:00 noon PDT – Five-page narrative describing the innovation, rationale for biomarker(s) selection, and proof of concept or alpha-test proof of functionality
June 18-19 – Awards announced at 2019 CPS Research Symposium in Austin, Texas
| Award Structure * – Up to $500,000 available |
| Prime Time Ready | Solid Proof of Potential | Promising Proof of Concept |
| 4 @ $75,000 | 5 @ $30,000 | 5 @ $10,000 |
Application information available on the CPS website: www.centerforproducesafety.org/grant_opportunities.php
Please send all CPS GRABIT award related questions to research@centerforproducesafety.org
Learn More about CPS Funded Projects on our Funded Research Projects page On the CPS website
Fund the science, find solutions and fuel the change.
About CPS
The Center for Produce Safety (CPS) is a 501(c)(3), U.S. tax-exempt, charitable organization focused exclusively on providing the produce industry and government with open access to the actionable information needed to continually enhance the safety of produce.
