Capacity Projects

AFES is responsible for distributing federal funds designated through the McIntire-Stennis Forestry Research Act of 1962 and the Hatch Act of 1887. This includes the Hatch Multistate Research Fund, which allows researchers to work with teams of investigators from Agricultural Experiment Stations across the country to solve complex scientific problems of regional or national interest. 

Research funded by these capacity funds includes all aspects of agriculture, including soil and water resource conservation; plant and animal production, protection, and health; processing, distribution, safety, marketing, and utilization of food and agricultural products; forestry, range management and range products; reforestation; woodlands and related watershed management; outdoor recreation; wildlife habitats; wood utilization; sustainable agriculture; molecular biology; and biotechnology.

Explore our current capacity projects.

Projects
  • W1196: Implementing and Correlating Soil Health Management and Assessment in Western States

    W1196: Implementing and Correlating Soil Health Management and Assessment in Western States

    Caley Gasch

    Jan 2023 - Sep 2026
    Project Number: ALK23-05
  • Soil depth and agricultural potential in Alaska: characterizing soil profile function at northern latitudes and anticipating change in a warming world

    Soil depth and agricultural potential in Alaska: characterizing soil profile function at northern latitudes and anticipating change in a warming world

    Caley Gasch

    Oct 2023 - Sep 2028
    Project Number: ALK24-05
  • Insect pest management solutions for Alaskan agriculture

    Insect pest management solutions for Alaskan agriculture

    Dennis Fielding

    Nov 2019 - Sep 2024
    Project Number: ALK19-10
  • Effect of cover crop mixes and intercropping with cover crop on the cabbage root maggot pest pressure and beneficial insects.

    Effect of cover crop mixes and intercropping with cover crop on the cabbage root maggot pest pressure and beneficial insects.

    Gino Graziano

    Oct 2023 - Sep 2028
    Project Number: ALK24-02
  • Control of invasive plants at high latitudes using persistent herbicides

    Control of invasive plants at high latitudes using persistent herbicides

    Gino Graziano

    Nov 2019 - Sep 2024
    Project Number: ALK19-09
  • High-latitude agricultural production systems: producer needs assessment and agriculture trials to improve food system resilience and health outcomes for Alaskans

    High-latitude agricultural production systems: producer needs assessment and agriculture trials to improve food system resilience and health outcomes for Alaskans

    Glenna Gannon

    Oct 2021 - Sep 2026
    Project Number: ALK22-04
  • Breeding small grain crop cultivars for Alaska

    Breeding small grain crop cultivars for Alaska

    Jakir Hasan

    Oct 2022 - Sep 2027
    Project Number: ALK23-03
  • W6: Maximizing Conservation and Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources and their Information

    W6: Maximizing Conservation and Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources and their Information

    Jakir Hasan

    Jul 2023 - Sep 2027
    Project Number: ALK23-07
  • Impacts of cover crops on soil microbiomes in Alaska

    Impacts of cover crops on soil microbiomes in Alaska

    Jenifer McBeath

    Oct 2022 - Sep 2027
    Project Number: ALK23-01
  • S-1088: Specialty crops and food systems: Exploring markets, supply chains, and policy dimensions

    S-1088: Specialty crops and food systems: Exploring markets, supply chains, and policy dimensions

    Jenifer McBeath

    Sep 2021 - Sep 2025
    Project Number: ALK22-02
  • Understanding Microbiome in Order to Develop Effective Disease Controls for a Chemical Pesticide-Free Peony Farming System

    Understanding Microbiome in Order to Develop Effective Disease Controls for a Chemical Pesticide-Free Peony Farming System

    Jenifer McBeath

    Jul 2019 - Jul 2024
    Project Number: ALK19-07
  • Developing environmentally-responsible rhodiola farms in Alaska through explication of microbiome

    Developing environmentally-responsible rhodiola farms in Alaska through explication of microbiome

    Jenifer McBeath

    Oct 2020 - Sep 2025
    Project Number: ALK21-03
  • Cooperative Alaska forest inventory

    Cooperative Alaska forest inventory

    Jessie Young-Robertson

    Oct 2021 - Sep 2024
    Project Number: ALK22-05
  • Spruce Response to Beetle Infestation in Alaska: An Evaluation of Tree Ecophysiology Using an Integrated Field and Modeling Approach

    Spruce Response to Beetle Infestation in Alaska: An Evaluation of Tree Ecophysiology Using an Integrated Field and Modeling Approach

    Jessie Young-Robertson

    Jan 2022 - Dec 2026
    Project Number: ALK22-07
  • Boreal forest carbon and water cycling: response to climate and insect infestation using field measurements, dendrochronology, and remote sensing

    Boreal forest carbon and water cycling: response to climate and insect infestation using field measurements, dendrochronology, and remote sensing

    Jessie Young-Robertson

    Oct 2021 - Sep 2026
    Project Number: ALK22-03
  • Quantifying Boreal Forest Tree Health, Growth, and Resilience in Response to Climate Change and Pathogens Using Plant Physiology-Informed Dendrochronology

    Quantifying Boreal Forest Tree Health, Growth, and Resilience in Response to Climate Change and Pathogens Using Plant Physiology-Informed Dendrochronology

    Jessie Young-Robertson

    Oct 2022 - Sep 2027
    Project Number: ALK23-04
  • Real-time monitoring of tree water content in interior Alaska's boreal forest to identify the optimal time to harvest wood when trees are at the driest level to empower the public to improve wintertime air quality

    Real-time monitoring of tree water content in interior Alaska's boreal forest to identify the optimal time to harvest wood when trees are at the driest level to empower the public to improve wintertime air quality

    Jessie Young-Robertson

    Oct 2019 - Sep 2024
    Project Number: ALK19-08
  • Greenhouse and controlled environment production for Alaska

    Greenhouse and controlled environment production for Alaska

    Meriam Karlsson

    Oct 2022 - Sep 2027
    Project Number: ALK23-02
  • Resource optimization in controlled environment agriculture

    Resource optimization in controlled environment agriculture

    Meriam Karlsson

    Oct 2023 - Sep 2028
    Project Number: ALK24-08
  • Determining Optimal Species Used as Forage and Cover Crops for Interior and Coastal Area of Alaska

    Determining Optimal Species Used as Forage and Cover Crops for Interior and Coastal Area of Alaska

    Mingchu Zhang

    Oct 2023 - Sep 2028
    Project Number: ALK24-03
  • Evaluating cover crop performance and cover crop management on soil fertility, soil health, soil water use and soil temperature dynamic in the cold climate conditions of Alaska

    Evaluating cover crop performance and cover crop management on soil fertility, soil health, soil water use and soil temperature dynamic in the cold climate conditions of Alaska

    Mingchu Zhang

    Feb 2020 - Sep 2024
    Project Number: ALK19-11
  • Breeding and evaluating spring wheat, and evaluating barley, oil seed crops for production in Alaska

    Breeding and evaluating spring wheat, and evaluating barley, oil seed crops for production in Alaska

    Mingchu Zhang

    Oct 2023 - Sep 2028
    Project Number: ALK24-06
  • Outdoor Recreation and Public Lands: Understanding Benefits and Addressing Equity

    Outdoor Recreation and Public Lands: Understanding Benefits and Addressing Equity

    Peter Fix

    Oct 2023 - Sep 2028
    Project Number: ALK24-07
  • NE1962: Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Other Green Environments: Understanding Human and Community Benefits and Mechanisms

    NE1962: Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Other Green Environments: Understanding Human and Community Benefits and Mechanisms

    Peter Fix

    Jan 2023 - Sep 2027
    Project Number: ALK23-06
  • Remote sensing of forest health, disturbance and change, Alaska

    Remote sensing of forest health, disturbance and change, Alaska

    Santosh Panda

    Oct 2021 - Sep 2026
    Project Number: ALK22-01
  • Impacts of drought and pest-associated carbon stress on the molecular mechanisms of resistance and susceptibility of trembling aspen to a fungal canker disease

    Impacts of drought and pest-associated carbon stress on the molecular mechanisms of resistance and susceptibility of trembling aspen to a fungal canker disease

    Ursel Schuette

    Oct 2023 - Sep 2028
    Project Number: ALK24-01