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.
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W1196: Implementing and Correlating Soil Health Management and Assessment in Western States
Caley Gasch
Jan 2023 - Sep 2026Project Number: ALK23-05
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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 2028Project Number: ALK24-05
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Insect pest management solutions for Alaskan agriculture
Dennis Fielding
Nov 2019 - Sep 2024Project Number: ALK19-10
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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 2028Project Number: ALK24-02
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Control of invasive plants at high latitudes using persistent herbicides
Gino Graziano
Nov 2019 - Sep 2024Project Number: ALK19-09
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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 2026Project Number: ALK22-04
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Breeding small grain crop cultivars for Alaska
Jakir Hasan
Oct 2022 - Sep 2027Project Number: ALK23-03
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W6: Maximizing Conservation and Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources and their Information
Jakir Hasan
Jul 2023 - Sep 2027Project Number: ALK23-07
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Impacts of cover crops on soil microbiomes in Alaska
Jenifer McBeath
Oct 2022 - Sep 2027Project Number: ALK23-01
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S-1088: Specialty crops and food systems: Exploring markets, supply chains, and policy dimensions
Jenifer McBeath
Sep 2021 - Sep 2025Project Number: ALK22-02
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Understanding Microbiome in Order to Develop Effective Disease Controls for a Chemical Pesticide-Free Peony Farming System
Jenifer McBeath
Jul 2019 - Jul 2024Project Number: ALK19-07
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Developing environmentally-responsible rhodiola farms in Alaska through explication of microbiome
Jenifer McBeath
Oct 2020 - Sep 2025Project Number: ALK21-03
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Cooperative Alaska forest inventory
Jessie Young-Robertson
Oct 2021 - Sep 2024Project Number: ALK22-05
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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 2026Project Number: ALK22-07
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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 2026Project Number: ALK22-03
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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 2027Project Number: ALK23-04
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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 2024Project Number: ALK19-08
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Greenhouse and controlled environment production for Alaska
Meriam Karlsson
Oct 2022 - Sep 2027Project Number: ALK23-02
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Resource optimization in controlled environment agriculture
Meriam Karlsson
Oct 2023 - Sep 2028Project Number: ALK24-08
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Determining Optimal Species Used as Forage and Cover Crops for Interior and Coastal Area of Alaska
Mingchu Zhang
Oct 2023 - Sep 2028Project Number: ALK24-03
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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 2024Project Number: ALK19-11
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Breeding and evaluating spring wheat, and evaluating barley, oil seed crops for production in Alaska
Mingchu Zhang
Oct 2023 - Sep 2028Project Number: ALK24-06
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Outdoor Recreation and Public Lands: Understanding Benefits and Addressing Equity
Peter Fix
Oct 2023 - Sep 2028Project Number: ALK24-07
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NE1962: Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Other Green Environments: Understanding Human and Community Benefits and Mechanisms
Peter Fix
Jan 2023 - Sep 2027Project Number: ALK23-06
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Remote sensing of forest health, disturbance and change, Alaska
Santosh Panda
Oct 2021 - Sep 2026Project Number: ALK22-01
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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 2028Project Number: ALK24-01